Shell's Chukchi exploration plan gets conditional MMS OK 12/13/2009
The Minerals Management Service has conditionally approved Shells' proposed Chukchi Sea outer continental shelf 2010 exploration plan. But it's basically approval for data gathering - drilling won't...

Alyeska shifts jobs away from Chugach 12/06/2009
In a series of major cost-cutting decisions, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is finalizing new agreements with contractors that could shift hundreds of trans-Alaska pipeline jobs away from unions. The c...

The Explorers 2009: Northern Alaska and Arctic offshore 11/15/2009
In 1968 the discovery of the giant Prudhoe Bay field, the first field to be discovered on Alaska's North Slope and among the 20 largest oil fields ever discovered worldwide, triggered a northern Alask...

Stevens: State needs 'incentive climate' 10/11/2009
Alaska must unite to tout its natural resource potential to world industry and Washington, ex-senator tells Alliance crowd
Citing the spirit and drive of statehood proponents 50 years ago, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said Alaskans today must unite in a bipartisan effort to "encourage global industry to invest in our stat...

Oil Patch Insider: Canada takes delivery of two Arctic submarines 10/04/2009
The Canadian government has taken delivery of two remote-controlled submarines that will be used in mapping the Arctic seabed. The program's purpose is to document Canada's territorial claims in the A...

Tax tussle rages 10/04/2009
Tens of millions at stake as lawyers argue trans-Alaska pipeline's value
The state, major oil companies and a trio of local governments are locked in an epic battle over how much the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is worth for property tax purposes. The parties recently complet...

Exxon sews up production well starts 09/13/2009
Drilling kicks off $1.3 billion Point Thomson gas cycling project; key rulings expected in dispute between Alaska and companies
ExxonMobil announced Sept. 9 it has completed drilling and casing the surface section of the first production well in the company's billion-dollar project to produce hydrocarbon liquids from the Point...

Ready at Umiat 09/13/2009
Renaissance says field development will depend on sustained oil prices
The Umiat oil field, adjacent to the Colville River on the eastern side of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, has remained a tantalizing puzzle since the U.S. Navy discovered oil there in 1946 and...

AK-WA Connection 2009: Kenworth Alaska keeps state trucking 08/23/2009
Longtime dealer prepares for future growth in economy with major upgrades, larger service areas at Anchorage and Fairbanks stores
Kenworth Alaska is one organization with a strong Alaska-Washington connection. Part of the Kenworth Northwest dealerships owned by the Cymbaluk family, Kenworth Alaska has served transportation need...

BP pushes for AOGCC probe 08/23/2009
Wants 'waste' claim reviewed, punitive damages barred in Prudhoe spill case
Lawyers for BP continue to press for partially diverting a state lawsuit over the 2006 Prudhoe Bay pipeline spills from the courts to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. BP's lawyers also...

MMS: Shell's new Beaufort plan complete 08/16/2009
The U.S. Minerals Management Service has determined that Shell's new Beaufort Sea exploration plan is complete, thus starting a 30-day period during which the agency must carry out an environmental as...

TAPS transitioning to low flow future 07/19/2009
Strategic reconfiguration of the trans-Alaska pipeline moves ahead, while engineers assess the challenges of declining flow rates
At the end of May, the switchover to new electric pumps at pump station 4 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline marked the latest major step in the upgrade of the pipeline system to accommodate declining r...

BP in Alaska: Alaska heavy oil test yields positive results 07/12/2009
A heavy oil production test program on the North Slope in August-September 2008 was an important step toward extracting vast deposits of heavy oil that lie above established fields such as Milne Point...

BP in Alaska: 50 more years in Alaska... 07/12/2009
BP Alaska is planning a 50-year future and is continuing on an ambitious course of renewal that could rival everything it has achieved to date. "Looking forward, our priorities are safe, reliable and...

BP in Alaska: Prudhoe Bay production begins 07/12/2009
With the words above, North America's largest oil field came to life 32 years ago, charting a new future for Alaska, BP and the nation. June 20, 1977, was a gray, overcast day at Prudhoe Bay as score...

BP in Alaska: Building the Trans Alaska Pipeline System 07/12/2009
In order to begin construction on the pipeline, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. needed to put in a road to service its construction. The road would start at the Yukon River, at the end of the 53-mile Ell...

BP in Alaska: Moving the oil – pipeline challenges 07/12/2009
Designing a pipeline that would transport Prudhoe Bay oil from Alaska's northern coast to its ice-free port of Valdez on Alaska's southern coast was an unprecedented engineering challenge. Three basic...

BP in Alaska: BP in Alaska: Half a century gone by, half a century to go ... 07/12/2009
This year as BP observes its 100-year milestone as a company, one of its upstream business units, BP Alaska, also has cause to celebrate, as the company opened its first office in Alaska in 1959. For...

High court strikes down Valdez tanker tax 06/21/2009
Tax imposed on tankers in 2000 found unconstitutional by U.S. Supreme Court; Alaska Supreme Court had ruled in favor of tax
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 struck down as unconstitutional a tax that the city of Valdez imposed on oil tankers loading crude oil from the southern terminus of the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipelin...

State approves UltraStar's Dewline unit 06/14/2009
One exploratory well drilled over winter, but Weeks won't reveal the results or cost; second well to be drilled by May 2013
Alaska regulators have approved formation of UltraStar Exploration LLC's Dewline unit on the North Slope. The five-year unit agreement is important because it will extend the three state leases com...

High Valdez inventory forces slope cuts 06/07/2009
Lack of tanker capacity could be one reason for 20% proration ordered by Alyeska Pipeline in mid-May, dropping production 16%
North Slope oil production unexpectedly tumbled for a couple of days in mid-May after Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. directed producers to prorate their production by 20 percent. Spokespersons for Alyes...

Whale found on bow of oil tanker 06/07/2009
An oil tanker struck an endangered humpback whale and carried it on its bow into Port Valdez. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokeswoman Sheila McLean says crewmen June 1 on an escor...

BP fights state lawsuit 05/31/2009
Says state overreaching as it seeks to collect huge damages over 2006 spills
Lawyers for BP say the state is "overreaching" with its lawsuit seeking to collect potentially huge fines, back taxes and other damages in connection with disruptive oil spills in the Prudhoe Bay fiel...

$15.3 billion for Alaska? 03/15/2009
New study projects state revenue, employment from AK offshore oil and gas
Shell has long championed the potential economic benefits to Alaska of oil and gas development on the state's outer continental shelf, a region that the company sees as strategic to its future Arctic...

Pump station gas release under study 02/15/2009
Massive release of natural occurred in Jan. 15; federal regulator says pump station could have been destroyed if gas had ignited
A major investigation is under way into a Prudhoe Bay oil field incident involving a massive release of natural gas that could have destroyed Pump Station 1 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, a federal...