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Oilpatch Insider Coastal tundra travel open; Chavez comes to Alberta’s rescue; Hite joins Benchmark; Interior picks Nageak; Katz stays
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources opened the eastern and western coastal areas of state land on Alaska’s North Slope for winter tundra travel effective 8 a.m. Dec. 19. The department said the opening applies only to those operators with valid off-road vehicle travel permits for state-owned lands on the North Slope.
“Field sampling on Dec. 18, 2006, indicated that both the eastern and western coastal areas have met the criteria for opening (6 inches of snow and minus 5 C or colder soil temperature at 30 centimeters depth),” the department said.
However, DNR warned that snow is still thin in some areas and that operators should pay attention to stipulations for required ground frost and snow cover. It may be necessary to use special construction techniques to protect the tundra in areas of thin snow, or to avoid these areas altogether.
The lower and upper foothills areas remain closed to tundra travel. Until those areas are open, DNR will approve projects in those areas on a case-by-case basis.
—Alan Bailey
David Hite to join Benchmark Benchmark Oil and Gas Co. announced Dec. 14 that geologist David Hite will become the company’s Anchorage-based Alaska exploration advisor.
“We are delighted to have David working with us,” said Robert E. Pledger, Benchmark president. “He brings a wealth of experience and expertise and we look forward to having him represent Benchmark in the greater oil and gas community of Alaska.”
Hite has more than 30 years experience in the Alaska oil and gas industry and, as a consultant geologist, has been involved in many oil and gas related projects and studies for clients including U.S. government agencies, major oil companies and Alaska Native corporations. For much of his career in Alaska Hite held various technical, research and managerial positions for ARCO Alaska, where he became very familiar with issues that span the Alaska energy business, Benchmark said.
—Alan Bailey
It’s official: Kempthorne names Ben Nageak Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made it official Dec. 20: Ben Nageak is the Bureau of Land Management representative in Barrow.
The Arctic Sounder reported Nov. 16 that Nageak, a Barrow resident and former mayor of the North Slope Borough, would be BLM’s representative.
“The establishment of this position fulfills a commitment we made to the people of the North Slope to have a fulltime presence in Barrow,” Kempthorne said in a statement. Kempthorne visited the North Slope in August.
Nageak, an Inupiat Eskimo, will serve as a natural resource program coordinator for BLM’s Arctic Field Office, which is based in Fairbanks and manages approximately 25 million acres of public land, including the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
As BLM’s point of contact in Barrow, Nageak will be BLM’s liaison with local government officials, special interest groups, Alaska Native organizations on the North Slope, state government and other federal agencies.
The agency said that Nageak’s primary responsibility will be to help BLM understand the unique cultural, economic and natural resource issues of Alaska’s North Slope and to coordinate with all interested constituents.
Nageak reported for duty Dec. 10. Arrangements for office space in Barrow are pending and details will be released at a later time.
Chavez comes to Alberta’s rescue Venezuela’s outspoken strongman President Hugo Chavez has allies in an unlikely place.
By pulling off re-election for a second six-year term, Chavez caused a sigh of relief in Canada, which has benefited from receiving hundreds of skilled workers who lost their jobs at state-owned PDVSA for opposing Venezuelan government interference in their industry. Over the past four years, families of an estimated 300-plus workers have packed up their talents and headed to the oil sands and heavy oil operations of Western Canada.
Had the volatile South American leader been toppled the betting in the exiled Venezuelan community was that many would return home.
Already strapped for talent, the Alberta oil sands would then have found itself in an even greater bind in hiring people needed to keep current and future projects on the move.
France’s Total, 84 percent operator of the Joslyn project, has found Venezuela to be a fertile hunting ground for talent.
It has persuaded many employees from its own Orinoco development to move north — a task made easier when Chavez dumped 22,000 PDVSA employees, or 70 percent of the total payroll, for supporting industry protest strikes in 2002.
Those workers were immediately blacklisted, which prevents them from taking jobs with any other oil companies in Venezuela.
Workers with PDVSA connections are now based in Alberta’s three major oil centers — Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray — the bulk of them landing posts with three leading producers, Suncor Energy, Syncrude Canada and Canadian Natural Resources.
More are expected now that Chavez has kept his grip on power.
But Chavez could yet pose a threat to Alberta’s pre-eminent global role in the oil sands.
He is committed to obtaining international recognition for the 235 billion barrels of heavy oil reserves in the Orinoco basin.
Added to existing reserves of 80 billion barrels, that would push Venezuela past the current world reserves leaders — Saudi Arabia at 264 billion barrels and Canada at 179 billion barrels — creating a rival magnet for international investment.
Orinoco currently yields 620,000 barrels per day and was once targeted for growth to 1.2 million bpd in 2007.
But, first, Chavez will have to rethink his strategy of hiking taxes and royalties on heavy oil, a decision that pushed him above the revenue-take by Canadian governments, regardless of the fact that production costs in Canada are three times higher than those in Venezuela.
On top of driving the private sector out of its oil fields, Venezuela has spent little on heavy oil research and development, relying instead on its state-owned enterprises to plug the gap.
—Gary Park
Palin retains John Katz Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Dec. 21 that she will retain John Katz as director of state and federal relations and special counsel to the governor in Washington, D.C.
“John is an institution in our nation’s capital,” said Palin in a press release. “He has assisted a multitude of Alaska’s governors in the formation of policy and strategy on federal issues and I look forward to the continued relationship. I personally have great respect for John, and deeply appreciate his efforts and willingness to stay on and assist me during this important time for Alaska.”
Katz first served as special counsel to Gov. Jay Hammond in 1979, advocating the state’s position concerning the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. He began serving in his present position in 1983 for Gov. Bill Sheffield and remained for governors Cowper, Hickel, Knowles and Murkowski.
—Kay Cashman
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