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NPR-A unit okayed BLM director sees first federal unit as initial step in NPR-A development Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management has approved its first federal oil and gas unit agreement for leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The Jan. 30 approval is for Greater Mooses Tooth unit in the Northeast NPR-A planning area, just west of the State of Alaska’s Colville River unit. There are 34 federal leases, totaling 147,456 acres, in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit.
“We are very pleased to sign this unit agreement,” said BLM Alaska State Director Tom Lonnie. “We view this as the first step toward successful development of nationally important energy resources from this petroleum reserve.”
The unit was proposed by ConocoPhillips Alaska, the unit operator, and Anadarko Petroleum which holds an interest in the leases, as it does at the Colville River unit.
The unit area includes all or part of the following leases: AA 081735*; AA 081736*; AA 081742*; AA 081743*; AA 081745*; AA081746*; AA 081777*; AA 081778*; AA 081779*; AA 081780; AA 081781; AA 081782; AA 081784; AA 081785; AA 081788*; AA 081798*; AA 081799; AA 081800; AA 081801; AA 081802; AA 081803; AA 081804; AA 081805; AA 081806; AA 081807; AA 081808; AA 081809; AA 081810; AA 081818*; AA 081819; AA 081820; AA 081821; AA 088123*; and AA 081857*. Leases shown with asterisks will be segregated because they are partially in and partially out of the unit.
Discoveries in area This area includes the discoveries at Lookout, Moose Tooth, Rendezvous and Spark, as well as Anadarko’s Altamura wells.
Modern discoveries were announced in the Northeast NPR-A beginning in 2001; in 2003, Kevin Meyers, then president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, said the company had signed a memorandum of understanding with BLM for an environmental impact statement for western satellite development, including satellite drilling pads at Spark and Lookout, among the NPR-A discoveries announced in 2001.
BLM said the Greater Mooses Tooth unit area includes portions of the surface estate selected by Kuukpik Corp. and the associated subsurface estate selected by Arctic Slope Regional Corp. under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
BLM said unitization eliminates internal property boundaries, thus permitting “the most efficient and cost-effective means of developing the underlying oil and gas resources. Unitization also minimizes surface-disturbing activities since fewer wells and facilities are needed to produce the reservoir.”
ConocoPhillips was not immediately able to comment.
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