Employment booming on North Slope 11/25/2007
Employment is booming in the North Slope oil fields, according to a state labor economist. Projected employment is expected to reach 11,400 jobs this year - the highest number since oil production beg...

Administration wins on tax increase 11/25/2007
Gov. Sarah Palin gets 25% tax requested in ACES, Democrats get standard deduction; level of continuing investment the worry
An expected Nov. 16 knuckle-biter finish to the Alaska Legislature's 30-day special session never materialized. The Senate completed most of its work on the bill changing state's oil and gas producti...

Cash-strapped Fox sets sights on high-cost Alaska 11/25/2007
Alaska newcomer Fox Petroleum is a very small player in a very large oil patch inhabited by much larger, better-financed, better-equipped, and more successful exploration and production companies. Fi...

Breaking through the ice 11/25/2007
Finland leading the way in evolving icebreaker designs from Baltic Sea that are opening new opportunities for marine operations in Arctic seas worldwide
The old adage of necessity being the mother of invention would certainly seem to apply to the icebreaker industry in Finland: The country depends on marine trade routes through Baltic Sea waters that...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Union Energy takes Kavik leases 11/18/2007
A new company won three leases in the State of Alaska's annual North Slope areawide lease sale on Oct. 24, 2007. Union Energy (Alaska) LLC, which gave the Division of Oil and Gas a contact address in...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: BP 'exploring' in known fields 11/18/2007
Company uses technology to access vertical 'string of pearls' that lie above developed North Slope fields
BP Exploration (Alaska), no longer active in traditional exploration in Alaska, is focused on exploring for - and recovering - resources through technology. BP is the operator at Prudhoe Bay, the lar...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Small independents in high gear 11/18/2007
Five small EandP gas companies plan to drill exploration wells on Alaska's North Slope winter 2007-08
Five small independent oil and gas companies expect to drill exploration wells on Alaska's North Slope in the winter exploration season of 2007-08. In the past, the highest number of small independent...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Exploring on pause, development on go 11/18/2007
Pioneer focusing on Oooguruk development, Cosmo delineation; exploration still on hold due to disappointing results, concern about Alaska's tax regime
Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources has no immediate plans to resume its Alaska oil and gas exploration program, Timothy Dove, Pioneer's president and chief operating officer, said on Sept. 27, 200...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Eni moving forward with Nikaitchuq 11/18/2007
Beaufort Sea project sanction expected by end of 2007, first oil 2009; Maggiore, Rock Flour undergoing evaluation
The signs are good that Eni will move forward with development of its Nikaitchuq unit offshore Alaska's North Slope in 2008. On Oct. 5, 2007, the Houston-based affiliate of Italy's Eni SpA received S...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Anadarko to drill first ANS gas well 11/18/2007
Has two rigs under contract, drilling 2 Brooks Range gas prospects, going back to finish Jacob's Ladder
Anadarko Petroleum and its partners in the Brooks Range Foothills, BG Alaska and Petro-Canada, plan to drill the first two natural gas exploration wells in northern Alaska this winter. Gas discoveries...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Repsol partners with Eni, Shell in Beaufort Sea 11/18/2007
In September 2007, Repsol YPF joined a Shell/Eni partnership in a block of 64 leases in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's North Slope. It was the Spanish oil and gas major's first acquisition in the state...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Chevron: working across the state 11/18/2007
White Hills exploration to begin this winter, company continues to look at Cook Inlet opportunities
Chevron, an oil and gas explorer and producer in Alaska for decades, will begin exploration drilling this winter at its White Hills prospect in the Brooks Range foothills on the southern edge of the N...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: FEX puts NPR-A drilling on pause 11/18/2007
Independent remains committed, but concerned about land access, high costs, fiscal regime, postpones drilling for two years
FEX L.P.'s decision to put its Alaska drilling program on pause for two years came as a surprise to everyone except those paying attention to the federal government's cancellation of National Petroleu...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Welcome to The Explorers 2007 11/18/2007
Welcome to The Explorers annual magazine, which got its start as The Independents in 2002. We changed the name to The Explorers in 2004 because it was evident, as oil prices began to rise, that there...

Industry less and less happy with ACES 11/18/2007
Companies tell Senate Finance that more taxes will lower, not raise, investment levels; bill includes more than two increases
Industry representatives were glum when they testified at Senate Finance Nov. 14. They'd had less than 24 hours to look through the committee substitute for Senate Bill 2001, the evolving bill that be...

Seven drilling ANS exploration wells 11/18/2007
Gas target of two Anadarko's wells; four small independents to drill; Chevron starts multi-year exploratory program in Foothills
Seven oil and gas companies plan to drill exploration wells on Alaska's North Slope this winter; an eighth company is moving forward with plans to re-enter an old exploration well on an undeveloped pr...

Alaska oil forecast shaky 11/18/2007
Production interruptions, infrastructure renewal, slowed heavy oil pace the cause
The fall production forecast for Alaska's North Slope is down from the spring forecast - down for the next eight years. Projected volumes have dropped as much as 130,000 barrels per day for fiscal yea...

Investment at risk 11/18/2007
Oil company execs says consequences dire if Alaska hikes taxes again
Investment in Alaska is in jeopardy if the state's oil production tax is overhauled in such a way that it significantly increases the State of Alaska's take, oil company executives told attendees of t...

ANGDA promotes in-state gas options 11/11/2007
Far from special legislative session debates over the troubled PPT, the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority is quietly focused on making North Slope natural gas available to Alaska residents, uti...

North Slope output averages 721,000 bpd 11/11/2007
Alaska North Slope production averaged 721,000 barrels per day in October, up 11 percent from 649,117 bpd in September. September production was pulled down by Prudhoe Bay, which dropped 16.7 percent...

This isn't Amerada Hess 11/11/2007
Disputes under a net tax don't involve first impression issues; state the sovereign
One of the issues that raises concern with a net production tax is litigation - the possibility that disputes between the State of Alaska and oil companies will generate lengthy legal disputes and end...

Econ One: industry costs up 11/11/2007
Consultant says Revenue used 2002-05 information; steep rises began in '05
The Alaska Department of Revenue used publicly available cost data from 2002-05 when it assembled a fiscal note on expected North Slope production and operating and capital costs for the legislation t...

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Kenworth relocates to new Fairbanks facility 11/04/2007
Kenworth Alaska recently relocated its Fairbanks dealership to a new facility that offers customers increased service capacity and expanded parts availability. A member of Kenworth's dealer network o...

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Colville launches White Night for offshore logistics 11/04/2007
The White Night is a high-performance work boat, named for the midnight sun of the Arctic, where Colville will station it for "bare boat" charters beginning in August.and#8194; The 32 foot customized Bo...

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Carlile recognizes performance in safety 11/04/2007
Carlile Transportation recognized individual drivers for outstanding safety performance at its first annual driver safety awards banquet September 22 in Anchorage. "Our goal is to be the best, safest...