Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said today that it has signed a major exploration agreement with the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., giving Anadarko exclusive access to more lands for exploration than any oil company operating in the state. Anadarko said in a statement that it now has exploratory access for up to 3.3 million acres controlled by ASRC.
Anadarko said the agreement provides it with exploration rights to 2.3 million acres that ASRC has under title today. Anadarko said it also has exploration rights to an additional 1 million acres now held by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. From that 1 million acres, ASRC will eventually claim title to approximately 240,000 acres as a part of its land selection rights under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Following initial evaluation, Anadarko said it has the option to lease prospective acreage from ASRC for further exploratory work. Future phases of the agreement will be based on a work commitment by Anadarko.
“We are excited about our new partnership with ASRC,” John N. Seitz, Anadarko’s executive vice president of exploration and production, said in a statement. “This agreement provides us with access to prospective acreage and it will help maximize the value of these lands for the benefit of the ASRC shareholder. Alaska is now a core area for Anadarko, and we have exploration programs under way in three major hydrocarbon basins: the North Slope, the Cook Inlet and the foothills region.”
Anadarko is calling its ASRC acreage the foothills prospect. The acreage lies primarily west of the trans-Alaska pipeline corridor south of the state’s North Slope areawide leasing area and south of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Anadarko said the ASRC acreage is intermingled and adjacent to some of the 26 tracts which the company acquired in state oil and gas lease sale 87 in June. Twenty of those tracts were acquired 100 percent by Anadarko; six tracts were acquired with Fina Inc.
Anadarko is a 22 percent partner in the ARCO Alaska Inc.-operated Alpine field and, under a separate agreement, Anadarko (operator) and ARCO Alaska are exploring 166,000 acres in the Cook Inlet basin where the partners recently spud their first well at the Moquawkie prospect onshore about 7 miles north of Tyonek.