|
NordAq acquires Smith Bay interest Small purchases from Doyon and L 71 Resources give NordAq approximately 25 percent interest in North Slope offshore prospect Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
NordAq Energy Inc. has acquired additional minority interest in the package of Beaufort Sea leases that it once operated and later sold to Caelus Alaska Energy Smith Bay LLC.
In separate transactions approved by the state Division of Oil and Gas in early May and announced in a recent lease report, NordAq acquired a small interest in 26 offshore leases in the Smith Bay region from Doyon Ltd. and a smaller interest in the same leases from L 71 Resources LLC. The state approved the deals retroactive to Jan. 1, 2017.
Through the deals, NordAq acquired 5 percent working interest and 4.31819 percent royalty interest from Doyon and 2.5 percent working interest and 2.165345 percent royalty interest from L 71 Resources. Doyon is the Alaska Native corporation for the Interior region of the state. L 71 Resources is a joint venture between Alaska Oil and Gas Operations Consultants LLC (51 percent) and Cruz Construction Inc. (49 percent), according to the Alaska Department of Corporations, Business & Professional Licensing.
NordAq initially acquired the offshore acreage through two state-run lease sales, one in late 2011 and one in late 2012. The company planned to drill an exploration well in the region, but the plans never materialized. The company instead sold a majority stake in the project to Caelus in June 2015 and retained a small working interest in the properties.
Caelus drilled two exploration wells in the region in early 2016 and later announced a historic discovery: a field with approximately 6 billion to 10 billion barrels of oil in place.
But despite the size, the remote location and icy, offshore condition have pushed estimated development costs into the $8 billion to $10 billion range, according to Caelus.
The recent acquisition gives NordAq a larger stake in the project. Added to the existing interest it retained in the leases, NordAq now has a 25 percent stake in the area.
Other leasing news • Alaska LLC surrendered 10 North Slope leases - ADL 392715, ADL 392716, 392717, ADL 392737, ADL 392738, ADL 392740, ADL 392769, ADL 392770, ADL 392771 and ADL 392772. Various state-managed leasing databases do not show that the small Fairbanks-based independent company ever held an interest in the leases, which are operated by Accumulate Energy Alaska Inc. and Armstrong Energy LLC, respectively.
• The state has received a request from Cade Family Business II LP to transfer small royalty interests, less than 1 percent, in four Redoubt unit leases to Cade III Family LLC.
• The state has received a request from Mary J. Horst, Horst Family Trust to transfer 0.017196 percent royalty interest in one Nicolai Creek unit lease - ADL 63279 - to Lawrence J. Donahue, Kathleen M. Grant and Mark A. Donahue, in three transactions.
• The state has re-instated a Cook Inlet lease - ADL 34898 - to Nancy Black Miller conditioned on lease terms. The lease had been terminated for failure to pay rent. The onshore lease is located in the southern Kenai Peninsula, west of the town of Nikolaevsk.
- A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.
| 