Preliminary BIF out for Cook Inlet sales

Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, has issued a preliminary best interest finding for Cook Inlet areawide oil and gas lease sales from 2019-2028. The division said the director has preliminarily found that Cook Inlet oil and gas lease sales from 2019-28 are in the best interests of the state.

The preliminary BIF, published June 29, is available on the division’s website at http://dog.dnr.alaska.gov/.

The division will be taking public comments through Aug. 30 and said the finding will be revised as needed and any relevant information and issues brought up during the public comment period will be incorporated into the final finding as necessary.

The BIF would cover sales for 10 years with the issuance of annual supplements as needed.

The division said in the preliminary BIF executive summary that while Cook Inlet has rock sequences with proven oil and gas potential, it is a mature producing basin which has been under exploration and development for 60 years. “The chances of finding major undiscovered petroleum reservoirs are reduced due to the extensive exploration that has already taken place,” the division said.

It did note that while many of the basin’s oil and gas fields are considered mature, “there has been an increase in activity. New companies have entered the basin, employing new seismic exploration and drilling technology. In many cases, development drilling programs in existing fields have focused on previously unrecognized pay zones.”

- Petroleum News