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Craig, Zamarello drop claim to tract
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas posted a complete preliminary report on its March 1 Beaufort Sea areawide oil and gas lease sale March 10.
Preliminary results of the sale were initially incomplete because of a restraining order.
A bid from BP Exploration (Alaska) for tract 194 in the Beaufort Sea sale had been placed in a folder for tract 194 in the North Slope sale. Bids for both sales were opened and read in public March 1, with the Beaufort Sea bids read first.
When those bids were read, a 50/50 bidding partnership of Paul Craig and Peter Zamarello was the only apparent bidder with a bid of $15.97 an acre for a total of $40,883.20 for tract 194.
After bids had been read, BP advised the division its bids had not been read.
The division then reread all bids for tracts on which BP had bid, including tract 194.
This tract is adjacent to BP’s Liberty prospect and the company bid $1,973.33 per acre, a total of $5,051,724.80, for the tract. BP bid on three tracts adjacent to Liberty and was the apparent high bidder on two of the three.
BP spokesman Daren Beaudo told Petroleum News after the sale that the company’s current interpretation of Liberty reflects only discovered oil on federal leases while the leases the company bid on in the sale “address upside potential,” with technical evaluations under way including processing 3-D seismic to see how Liberty “might extend onto the state leases.”
Temporary restraining order Craig and Zamarello obtained a temporary restraining order March 2 prohibiting the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas from awarding the tract to BP.
The division published a notice on its Web site March 3, admitting to a clerical error, and stating that BP’s bids were mistakenly placed in a folder for the North Slope areawide lease sale by division staff.
The division faxed Craig and Zamarello copies of BP’s bid, payment and envelope on March 6. William Bankston, attorney for Craig and Zamarello, told the court March 7 that after examining BP’s bid information, Craig and Zamarello “concede that the bid is not facially deficient.”
Superior Court Judge Craig Stowers vacated a scheduled hearing and lifted the temporary restraining order.
—Kristen Nelson
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