Cook Inlet Energy LLC came out the winner in a recent auction of abandoned oil and gas assets arrayed along the west side of Alaska’s Cook Inlet.
The company’s high bid of $2.25 million topped the $2.15 million offer from a partnership of Stellar Energy LLC and Ramshorn Investments Inc., a unit of global drilling giant Nabors Industries Ltd.
The auction results were disclosed in papers filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, where the former owner of the properties, Pacific Energy Resources Ltd., is liquidating its business.
Pacific Energy itself held the auction by teleconference on Nov. 5-6.
The company had abandoned the assets on Sept. 11 because of mounting losses and an inability to execute a quick sale.
When a number of prospective buyers later emerged, Pacific Energy organized the auction.
Pacific Energy has asked Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey to allow it to reclaim the abandoned properties for purposes of completing the sale to Cook Inlet Energy.
It’s not clear when the judge might act on the request.
The asset package includes the West McArthur River oil field and the West Foreland natural gas field. And in a late surprise, Pacific Energy’s abandoned interests in the Redoubt unit, including the Osprey offshore platform, were rolled into the deal.
According to state records, Cook Inlet Energy was organized as an Anchorage-based limited liability company on Jan. 13 of this year. Its largest owner is David M. Hall of Kenai, a former Pacific Energy employee.
See story in Nov. 15 issue, available online at noon, Friday Nov. 13, at www.PetroleumNews.com
