No Alaska plans for St. Mary

Denver-based independent St. Mary Land & Exploration Co. has no plans to enter the Alaska oil and gas industry, Bob Hanley, the company’s vice president of investor relations, told Petroleum News Jan. 18.

In 2004 the company investigated the possibility of investing in North Slope opportunities but at that time declined to comment on its intentions. St. Mary secured the services of North Slope exploration guru Michael Richter in its investigations.

“We went up and met some people and did some evaluations,” Hanley said. But the potential projects did not fit with the company, either in terms of their risk profile or the amount of capital needed. St. Mary did not identify any specific problems with working in Alaska — it did ask questions about how it might participate in the existing oil and gas infrastructure, but did not investigate that type of issue to any depth.

Although the company has no further plans to evaluate Alaska opportunities, the possibility of doing so at some time in the future can’t be completely ruled out.

“We certainly aren’t going to say ‘never’,” Hanley said.

—Alan Bailey