Independent GeoPetro deciding on next move in Cook Inlet gas hunt

GeoPetro Resources Co., the small independent that snapped up 100 percent working interest in more than 120,000 acres of gas prospective acreage from Pioneer Oil Co. in the Cook Inlet basin in 2005, is still studying what its next move should be, according to the company’s top official.

Stuart Doshi, chairman and CEO of GeoPetro, told Petroleum News April 6 that the San Francisco-based firm could not be more pleased with its purchase of 122,174 acres in the Cook Inlet basin, but has been busy lately working on other projects in Texas and Indonesia.

Up to 60 percent of the Alaska acreage is in the Point Mackenzie Prospect about six miles across Knik Arm from Anchorage, while the remaining leases are part of the Trading Bay Prospect some 50 miles to the southwest on the far side of Cook Inlet, Doshi said.

Company evaluating seismic

“Our initial look is encouraging. We most likely will put together a drilling program in 2008. I think any program we put together will target both coalbed methane and conventional gas,” he said.

Under terms of GeoPetro’s acquisition of the Cook Inlet acreage, the company is obligated to conduct a $2.5 million work program, including drilling at least two test wells on the property within three years to retain the leases, a period which will end in late 2008, according to filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.

The option also calls for GeoPetro to make a final payment of $1.07 million, or $10 an acre, for the leases after evaluating the drilling results.

Analysts estimate the value of GeoPetro’s Cook Inlet leases at about $10 million, the filings said.

GeoPetro’s hunt for a partner in the project is also moving apace, according to Doshi.

“We are talking to a couple of parties, and we hope to get something done by year’s end,” he said.

—Rose Ragsdale