State OKs transfer of Cosmopolitan

Eric Lidji

For Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources approved a series of deals in February turning the offshore Cosmopolitan prospect over to independent BlueCrest Energy Inc.

Apache Alaska Corp. transferred 100 percent working interest and 84 percent royalty interest in ADL 391899, ADL 391902, ADL 391903 and ADL 391904 to Buccaneer Cosmopolitan LLC and Buccaneer transferred a 75 percent working interest and 63 percent royalty interest in the same four leases to its former partner BlueCrest Energy.

Buccaneer and BlueCrest acquired Cosmopolitan in early 2012 and encountered oil and natural gas with an exploration well last year, but Buccaneer recently transferred its minority interest in the prospect to BlueCrest to pay down debt and fund other projects.

In February, the state also issued leases acquired during the November 2013 North Slope areawide lease sale. The state issued 52 leases to NordAq Energy Inc., 14 to ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., five to the Armstrong Oil & Gas subsidiary 70 & 148 LLC, four to AVCG LLC, two to Burgundy Xploration LLC and one to Savant Alaska LLC.

Leases expire

ConocoPhillips lost ADL 390916, ADL 390917 and ADL 390918 at the end of January. The three leases are about five miles south of the Kuparuk River unit and include the BP Exploration (Alaska) Ekvik No. 1 well. A nearby ConocoPhillips lease expires in August.

Renaissance Umiat LLC lost ADL 390884, an irregular lease along the state side of the Colville River. The lease is near the Anadarko Petroleum Corp. wells in the Gubik field.

Polar Petroleum LLC lost ADL 390939, which is at the northern end of the White Hills regions. The lease is where ARCO Alaska drilled the Pipeline State No. 1 well.

In Cook Inlet, Apache Alaska Corp. lost ADL 391349 and ADL 391352. The former is an offshore lease near the Hilcorp South Granite Point unit. The latter is an offshore lease nestled between the ConocoPhillips Beluga River unit and the Hilcorp Pretty Creek unit.

Alaskan Energy Alliance Inc. lost ADL 391348, also near the South Granite Point unit.

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