UltraStar contracts Dewline unit

UltraStar Exploration LLC has voluntarily contracted one lease out of its Dewline unit.

The Alaska-based exploration company relinquished ADL 390608 in July, according to state lease records. The lease was a small offshore parcel at the coastal North Slope unit.

The contraction follows several years of deferred drilling.

UltraStar drilled the 9,990-foot vertical Dewline No. 1 well at the unit in early 2009, and called it “a typical exploration well,” without providing specifics about the results.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources formed the Dewline unit in June 2009 and expanded the unit in March 2011 to include ADL 390608. The terms of the expansion required UltraStar to drill wells by May 31, 2013 and May 31, 2014, or lose acreage.

The first, North Dewline No. 1, was to be a 14,000 to 15,000-foot directional well from an onshore pad to an offshore target. UltraStar planned to drill the well in early 2012, but delayed the project because of rig availability. The company deferred the well again this year and asked the state for an extension. The state denied the request, and UltraStar appealed. The appeal remains unresolved, but the contraction is an effort to resolve it.

The Department of Natural Resources issued 38 leases to Doyon Limited in July. The leases are in the Nenana Basin, where the company is exploring for natural gas.

In other northern leasing news, the state also extended five Repsol leases on the North Slope, using its newly granted authority from a state law approved earlier this year.

The DNR also issued four leases on the North Slope to Royale Energy Inc.

The department also approved the transfer of a 39.282233 percent working interest and 32.732521 percent royalty interest in one lease near the Kuparuk River unit — ADL 392367 — from ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. to BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.

“Leede and Pine, A Partnership” transferred a 1.514636 percent working interest and 1.3253064 percent royalty interest in ADL 47560 to Colt Alaska LLC and a 0.504879 percent working interest and 0.4417687 royalty interest in the same lease to Pinta Real Development LLC. The Exxon Mobil lease is in the vicinity of the Pt. Thomson unit.

In Cook Inlet, NordAq Energy Inc. transferred a 0.2 percent royalty interest in one lease — ADL 391596 — to Tiki Yates. The lease is included in NordAq’s Shadura prospect.

—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.

—Eric Lidji