Role of Arctic gas uncertain 11/25/2007
Regardless of how Canada's energy consumption evolves, the National Energy Board has no doubt that demand for natural gas will rise, led by home and business heating uses, with oil sands extraction an...

Former executives hit with fines, bans 11/25/2007
Hefty penalties have been imposed on two former oil patch executives found by Alberta securities regulators to have misrepresented production and reserves volumes to security holders, analysts and the...

Oil futures jump on dollar Fed forecast 11/25/2007
Crude oil prices approach $100 a barrel after U.S. dollar hits new low, talk Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again
Oil prices resumed their march toward $100 Nov. 20, rising to records over $98 a barrel as futures drew strength from a declining dollar, news of refinery problems and speculation that the Federal Res...

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...

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...

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...

LNG a continental wild card 11/25/2007
North America could benefit from tapping into global resource; greater LNG volumes could displace higher-cost conventional, unconventional, frontier supplies
Liquefied natural gas could play a key role in ensuring supply-and-demand balance and steady prices in North American markets over at least the next seven years, offsetting declines in Canadian export...

Chevron ups stake 11/25/2007
Back on North Slope, 2007-08 AK investment doubled, might again in 2009
Chevron is back exploring on the North Slope - for the first time since the early 1990s - and will start a two-year drilling program at its White Hills exploration prospect later this year. John Zage...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Storm Cat Energy drops out of Alaska 11/18/2007
Storm Cat Energy Corp., less than two years after drilling an exploration well in the coalbed-methane-rich Matanuska-Susitna Borough, has dropped its pursuit of natural gas reserves in Alaska. Instea...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Marathon continues to chase inlet gas 11/18/2007
Company sees significant opportunity in the Cook Inlet region but wants competitive gas pricing and a stable fiscal, regulatory environment in Alaska
Although oil and gas production in Alaska is declining, there are still plenty of resources to find and develop, Mitch Little, Marathon's Alaska production manager, told Petroleum News Oct. 2, 2007. "...

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: Shell never really left Alaska 11/18/2007
2007 Beaufort drilling plans on hold due to a court order, Odom says will continue to listen, learn, work with local people
When Shell re-entered Alaska in October 2001 with the $2.4 million acquisition of 56,000 acres on the North Slope, Alaskans watched to see what the U.S. EandP arm of Royal Dutch Shell would do next. Fo...

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: Aurora Gas in holding pattern 11/18/2007
Drilling rig remains idle while company deals with litigation, looks to sell or recapitalize company
Following a difficult year in 2006, Aurora Gas remains in something of a holding pattern while it tries to resolve its future. Aurora Gas has spent the majority of 2007 focused on its ongoing litigati...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: Gas giant BG strong partner 11/18/2007
London-based BG Group, one of the world's largest natural gas companies, entered Alaska in January 2006, with a Brooks Range Foothills joint venture agreement with Anadarko Petroleum and Petro-Canada....

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: Paspalof to head Alaska operations 11/18/2007
Pacific Energy buys bulk of Forest Oil's Alaska assets; word is California independent buying jack-up for Cook Inlet exploration
Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. is looking to make Alaska's Cook Inlet basin a core area of its operations. The Long Beach, Calif., independent closed Aug. 27, 2007, on its purchase of Forest Oil Corp.'...

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...

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...

Gas supplies enter winter in good shape 11/18/2007
The nosedive in Canadian natural gas drilling that is expected to stretch well into 2008 should not endanger supplies even if North America experiences a cold winter, Canada's National Energy Board sa...

Fresh lift for revolutionary technology 11/18/2007
Two Canadian juniors, Petrobank Energy and Resources and Duvernay Oil, have hitched up to develop 100 million barrels of oil resources in northwestern Alberta. To gain a 50 percent operating interest...

Alberta oil sands, water in conflict 11/18/2007
New study reports high levels of carcinogens, toxic substances in fish, water and sediment downstream from projects
In the words of Mark Twain: Whisky is for drinking. Water is for fighting over. Some might consider posting that quip in large letters over 90,000 acres of what was once forest and wetlands and is now...

Enstar: Gas prices will decrease slightly 11/11/2007
After a 30 percent increase this year, Enstar Natural Gas Co. customers can expect a slight decrease in the price of gas next year, according to company officials. Enstar, which provides gas to about...