The Explorers 2010: Exploration licenses open Susitna

Very little oil and gas exploration has been done in the Susitna basin, the northern extension of the Cook Inlet basin in the valley of the Susitna River. A total of nine exploration wells and four core holes have been drilled in the basin, with all wells subsequently plugged and abandoned as dry holes, although some did have minor gas shows.

In 2003 the state issued three exploration licenses for the Susitna basin — an exploration license enables a company to explore in a region that is not an established oil and gas province without buying oil and gas leases. Susitna license 1, covering 408,060 acres west of Talkeetna and the Parks Highway, was issued to Forest Oil but was terminated in 2007. Susitna license 2, to the south of license 1, was issued to Pacific Energy which has since gone bankrupt. License 3, to the west of licenses 1 and 2, was offered to Clearflame Resources but the company did not take the license up.

In 2008 LAPP Resources, an Anchorage exploration company owned by David Lappi, a longtime Alaskan and energy entrepreneur, applied for an exploration license covering about 21,080 acres near Houston and Willow in the Susitna Valley, but that exploration license has not been issued.

In May 2010 Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas said that it was evaluating a new proposal for exploration in the Susitna license 1 area, but the division declined to name the company involved.