Oil patch insider: ANWR lease sale on track for ’19; EOG eyeing Alaska North Slope

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

Among the news tidbits that dropped at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association’s May 30 annual conference was Interior’s Joe Balash saying the first ANWR 1002 lease sale was on track for later this year, a state official’s comment that EOG Resources was taking a close look at investing in North Slope leases, and BP’s treat - custom mini-containers of delicious Wild Scoops Prudhoe Pretzel ice cream!

Balash, assistant secretary of Land and Minerals Management, told attendees Interior is working on a final draft of an environmental impact statement to implement an oil and gas leasing program for the ANWR 1002 area and that he expected the EIS to be released by August. (As assistant secretary Balash oversees all federal lands and waters, and their associated mineral and non-mineral resources.)

“Once we have a final EIS, we’ll be in a position to issue a record of decision and notice of lease sale,” he said. “And that lease sale will happen in 2019.”

- KAY CASHMAN

EOG checking out North Slope

With a market capitalization of approximately $70 billion, EOG is right behind ConocoPhillips in market cap and often exceeds Conoco in oil production, with Chevron and ExxonMobil at the top of that list of U.S. oil and gas companies.

What’s more, EOG is an innovative and aggressive explorer and developer, and always open to new opportunities.

EOG was reportedly one of three companies that called Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige after she touted the northernmost state at the 15th annual Tudor Pickering & Holt Hotter ’N Hell Conference in Houston on May 14.

EOG and its subsidiaries explore for, develop, produce and market crude oil and natural gas. Their principal producing areas are New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming in the United States, as well as the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the People’s Republic of China and Canada outside the U.S.

Finally - and totally unrelated - according to a May 2 stock reporting service, large investors recently bought and sold shares of EOG, including what they called the Alaska Department of Revenue (must mean the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.), which increased its stake in EOG by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. APFC “now owns 88,860 shares of the energy exploration company’s stock valued at $7,747,000 after purchasing an additional 2,469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.81% of the company’s stock,” the reporting service said.

- KAY CASHMAN