Repsol leases expire; Anadarko partners

Eric Lidji

For Petroleum News

A package of Repsol E&P USA Inc. leases expired at the end of May.

The 19 leases were spread across the leasehold that the Spanish major operates on the North Slope in partnership with Armstrong Oil & Gas subsidiary 70 & 148 LLC and GMT Exploration Co. LLC, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

The first bundle included nine leases - ADL 391412 through ADL 391420 - immediately south of the Meltwater satellite of the ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River unit. The bundle included lease ADL 391420, where Repsol drilled the Kachemach No. 1 well and lease ADL 391416, where ARCO drilled the Meltwater South well.

The second bundle included four leases - ADL 391436 through ADL 391439 - southwest of the Brooks Range Petroleum Corp.-operated Southern Miluveach unit.

The third bundle included six leases - ADL 391421, ADL 391422, ADL 391423, ADL 391429, ADL 391430 and ADL 391440 - scattered across the area south of the Kuparuk River and Prudhoe Bay units. The state previously extended the terms of other Repsol leases across the entire region that had also been set to expire at the end of May 2014.

Royale Energy Inc. transferred a 20 percent working interest and either 16.66667 or 17.5 percent royalty interest in 20 leases on the North Slope to Rampart Alaska LLC. The two independent companies are partnering on an exploration program south of Prudhoe Bay.

Also in June, the state approved the transfer of leases at the Oooguruk unit from Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska LLC to new operator Caelus Natural Resources Alaska LLC.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. transferred a 50 percent working interest and 43.75 percent royalty interest in eight leases - ADL 392375 through ADL 392382 - in the foothills of the Brooks Range Mountains to BG Alaska E&P Inc. Anadarko acquired the leases in a November 2012 lease sale. Anadarko previously operated an exploration program in the foothills in an almost-equal three-way partnership with BG Group and Petro-Canada.

In Cook Inlet, the Cook Inlet Energy LLC lease ADL 392255 expired at the end of May.

And the Alaska Department of Natural Resources is considering a request from the GS Rodabaugh Estate to transfer small royalty interests, all less than 0.1 percent, in five leases at the Cook Inlet Energy-operated Redoubt unit - ADL 374002, ADL 378114, ADL 381003, ADL 381201 and ADL 381203 - to the Galon S. Rodabaugh Estate LLC.

—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.