Climate change takes U.S. center stage 11/25/2007
Consultant: Climate change, energy security concerns setting the agenda for U.S. government energy policy; could favor NS gas line
There was a time not too long ago when the forces that guided what passed for a U.S. energy policy in the corridors of Washington, D.C., could be summed up as a three-statement mantra: maximize supply...

Chamber report issues energy wakeup call 11/25/2007
Business group calls for fiscal, energy strategies to meet short- and long-term needs of Alaska economy, beleaguered residents
Getting a grip on Alaska's energy outlook and developing a successful strategy to meet the needs of Alaskans now and in the future is the subject of a new 11-page report published by the Anchorage Cha...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Petro-Canada: From operator to partner 11/18/2007
A better headline for this story might have been "Petro-Canada: From possible operator to partner" because the company had not actually drilled a well in Alaska when it decided to continue to play the...

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: Armstrong, Total back in the game 11/18/2007
An affiliate of Denver-based Armstrong Oil and Gas and a subsidiary of Paris-based Total S.A. returned to Alaska in 2007. When independent Armstrong Alaska LLC and Houston-based major Total EandP USA In...

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...

Solving Cook Inlet's gas conundrum 11/18/2007
Region needs gas for foreseeable future; gas exploration, gas storage, North Slope gas, LNG all factor into energy supply options
The days of an overabundance of cheap natural gas from Cook Inlet basin may be over, but Southcentral Alaska needs reliable gas supplies for years to come was a recurring theme during the first day of...

Alaska's PSIO completes staff hiring 11/18/2007
The Petroleum System Integrity Office has completed its recruitment efforts, PSIO Coordinator Jonne Slemons told Petroleum News Nov. 14. Slemons said Dan Rice, PE, was hired in July as PSIO's lead te...

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...

TransCanada eyes larger role 11/11/2007
CEO Hal Kvisle 'enthused' about Mackenzie Gas Project being based on 'flat-line' gas outlook in Alberta; offers TransCanada's expertise to build and operate the C$7B natural gas pipeline
Worried about declining natural gas production in Alberta, TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Hal Kvisle is making no secret of his company's eagerness to expand its role in the Mackenzie Gas Project...

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...

Escopeta's North Alexander well in ACMP review 11/04/2007
Escopeta Oil Co. LLC's North Alexander prospect gas exploration well is under review for consistency with the Alaska Coastal Management Program. Escopeta is proposing to drill the North Alexander No....

MINING NEWS: A conversation with Steve Borell 10/28/2007
Longtime Alaska Miners exec says busy mining industry brings good jobs, significant public revenue and excitement to state
Steve Borell, longtime executive director of the Alaska Miners Association, sat down to discuss the state of the industry recently. Borell expressed optimism and excitement about the industry's future...

NWT regime set to lock horns 10/28/2007
New premier promises tougher stance to give territory greater control over resource development, taxes; likes 'no-prisoners' style
The Northwest Territories has installed a new government that is ready to tackle a set of old issues, led by a perennial effort to wrest control of its natural resources from the Canadian government....

ACES' hearings in Juneau intense 10/28/2007
Legislators question past, current consultants, administration, industry: tax rate, proposed floor, exempt auditors, ethics aired
A special session of the Alaska Legislature gaveled in Oct. 18 to consider Gov. Sarah Palin's proposal to change the petroleum profits tax lawmakers enacted in August 2006 under the previous administr...

LNG good option 10/28/2007
BG says increasing globalization of market bodes well for North Slope gas
Would Alaska's natural gas be best exported by LNG carrier or by pipeline through Canada to the Lower 48? The answer depends on which economic crystal ball you look in. And BG, one of the world's larg...

30 STRONG: Meeting Northstar's challenges 10/14/2007
Technology helps island development succeed in sensitive environment with leak detection, smart wells
In developing the 200 million-barrel Northstar field some six miles offshore in the icy Beaufort Sea, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. placed a tall order with its engineering teams: Find a way to overcom...

30 STRONG: Engineering ingenuity pays off 10/14/2007
EOR techniques developed over three decades succeed beyond developers' wildest dreams
Getting more oil out of the ground is a technical challenge that teams of engineers tackled from Day 1 on the North Slope. More than 30 years later, the brainstorming that produced and perfected a se...

30 STRONG: Corrosion battle began on Day 1 10/14/2007
Ongoing campaign slows aging in trans-Alaska oil pipeline, yields technology dividends
In the beginning, it was an occasional skirmish. Thirty years later, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is embroiled in a full-scale war on corrosion and destructive forces attacking the trans-Alaska oil pi...

30 STRONG: Pipeline pigs dig the dirty work 10/14/2007
Instruments used by Alyeska to monitor, maintain 30-year-old infrastructure have improved
Perhaps the most talked about and least understood technologies in the transportation sector of the oil industry are in-line inspection devices known as "pigs." These oinkers, like their namesakes, ar...

30 STRONG: TAPS: Young after 30 years 10/14/2007
Over past 10 years Alyeska achieved 99.5% pipeline mechanical reliability rate
It is an unrivaled engineering marvel compared by some with the Great Wall of China. It has safely and reliably delivered incomparable wealth in petroleum riches to the American people over three deca...

Resolving Southcentral power puzzle 10/14/2007
Alaska Energy Authority conference seeks options for managing the power grid, while MEA petitions for unified operation
Few of us when we switch on an electric light worry too much about where the electrons that pass through the light bulb originate. But, in Southcentral Alaska, with escalating natural gas prices, ques...

Superior Court decision on Point Thomson out by end of year, says judge; then likely on to Alaska Supreme Court 10/14/2007
An Alaska Superior Court decision on the termination of the Point Thomson unit should be out by the end of the year. It's clear to everyone that the probability of an appeal to the Alaska Supreme Cou...

BLM on aggressive schedule for NE NPR-A 09/30/2007
Supplemental integrated activity plan/EIS to be final next summer; lease sale could occur in late summer or early fall 2008
The Bureau of Land Management has "been on a very aggressive timeline" for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska northeast planning area, BLM Alaska Associate State Director Julia Dougan told the Reso...