The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said today it has received final payments on high bids made at its September 2008 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lease sale.
But the sales’ top bidder, Petro-Hunt LLC, relinquished its bids, forfeiting a deposit of $2.75 million.
Companies completing payment included Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one lease; ConocoPhillips Alaska, 33 leases; Petro-Canada (Alaska), 17 leases; FEX, 11 leases; Anadarko and Petro-Canada, 50 percent each on 13 leases; and FEX (60 percent) and Petro-Canada (40 percent), three leases.
BLM said Petro-Hunt notified it in late December that falling oil prices made it uneconomical for it to pursue oil production at this time in NPR-A.
Petro-Hunt was the high bidder on 72 lease tracts for $13,730,603; the company forfeited its deposit of $2,746,154.
Editor’s note: See full story in Jan. 11 issue of Petroleum News, available online at noon, Jan. 9.
