Anadarko on track with Alaska plans
On June 9, Anadarko Petroleum’s CEO James Hackett announced sweeping changes in the way the big independent conducts business, including plans to sell more than $2.5 billion of high-cost oil and gas properties and to repurchase up to $2 billion of company stock. (See story on page 4 of the June 13 edition of Petroleum News which will be released tomorrow afternoon online.)
Anadarko’s new strategy largely entails using profits from proven “foundation assets” onshore U.S. and Canada to fuel “growth platforms” in the Gulf of Mexico, Algeria and Qatar.
Mark Hanley, Anadarko Petroleum’s top executive in Alaska, told Petroleum News June 10 that the company is “not divesting” any of its oil and gas properties in Alaska as part of the new strategy.
“We’re still investing here,” Hanley said, noting that Anadarko had participated in the June 2 lease sale for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
“In Alaska we have three areas where we are working,” Hanley said, including what he refers to as “Alpine and west, the ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field, its satellites and a good chunk of NPR-A.”
The company is also operator of several oil prospects on Alaska’s North Slope, including Jacob’s Ladder.
“We’re looking for partners for Jacob’s Ladder (see Petroleum News’ online archives). If we can get a partner by July 1 … we should be able to drill there next winter,” he said.
The third area is the gas-prone Brooks Range Foothills.
Exploration plans in the foothills are on hold until there is “progress on a gas pipeline and we get some idea of what access options we have,” Hanley said.
Governor names Stinson to state gas pipeline development board
Gov. Frank Murkowski has appointed an oilfield service company executive to the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, the agency charged with preparing a project plan for a state-owned North Slope gas line.
Robert Stinson, president of Conam Construction Co., of Anchorage, was named June 9 to a three-year term on the gas authority’s board of directors.
Conam specializes in pipeline and oilfield construction and maintenance work. Stinson worked for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. during and after construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
Stinson replaces Warren Christian on the seven-member gas authority board. Christian, whose one-year term expired this month, works as executive vice president of Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Energy Services in Anchorage and was among the seven original board members the governor appointed last June.
The governor also reappointed John Kelsey to the board. Kelsey, who also was finishing a one-year term, is a former mayor of Valdez and owns a dock company in the community, according to the governor’s office.
Kelsey also serves on the board of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, an effort by the city of Valdez and Fairbanks North Star Borough — separate from the state-owned project — to build a municipally owned North Slope natural gas pipeline.
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