THE EXPLORERS 2007: Union Energy takes Kavik leases

A new company won three leases in the State of Alaska’s annual North Slope areawide lease sale on Oct. 24, 2007. Union Energy (Alaska) LLC, which gave the Division of Oil and Gas a contact address in Switzerland, spent $449,971 in the sale.

The three leases were formerly in the Kavik unit east of the Haul Road and just west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Kavik gas field was discovered in 1969 shortly after discovery of Prudhoe Bay in a thrust-faulted anticline, David LePain, chief of DGGS energy resources section, told Petroleum News after the lease sale.

“The reservoir interval includes some of the same rock units as Prudhoe Bay, including the Ledge Sandstone Member of the Ivishak and Sag River sandstone. Gas-in-place volumes were recently estimated by the USGS at 165 billion cubic feet, with technically recoverable reserves at 115 billion cubic feet,” LePain said.

As of Oct. 31, it’s not apparent whether Union Energy is a land speculator/investor or an E&P company. The firm’s general manager is James Fitzsimons. His phone number in Switzerland is 011 41 91 980 4104.

According to the division, Union Energy bid in a 2006 Cook Inlet areawide lease sale, but its bids were rejected because it submitted a check drawn on a foreign bank. State regulations require checks to be from U.S. banks.

—Kay Cashman