The Explorers 2009: Armstrong

Armstrong Resources introduced a new business style to Alaska in late 2001, going after larger prospects passed over by the majors BP and ConocoPhillips, the North Slope’s only producer-operators at the time. Armstrong drilled wells quickly, sold working interests in prospects to larger oil companies that would then operate exploration and development with Armstrong’s assistance. Using that strategy the Denver-based independent brought Pioneer Natural Resources, Kerr-McGee and Eni Petroleum to Alaska, which led to the development of the Oooguruk, Nikaitchuq and Tuvaaq prospects.

While Armstrong first looked for oil on the North Slope, more recently Armstrong Cook Inlet has been searching for natural gas on the Kenai Peninsula. The company found gas last summer with the North Fork 34-26 well, testing an undeveloped prospect discovered in the 1960s. The company believes the prospect is far from fully delineated, but said early results suggest a field between 7.5 billion and 12.5 billion cubic feet of gas, with the possibility of as much as 20 billion to 60 billion. Armstrong recently signed a contract to sell North Fork gas to Enstar, overcoming a major hurdle facing the project. The contract still needs regulatory approval. With North Fork moving forward, Armstrong is turning one eye back north. The company — as 70 & 148 LLC — leased acreage in its original stomping grounds: onshore and offshore Alaska’s North Slope.

Current exploration focus

Cook Inlet: has formed a partnership to develop the North Fork gas field in the southern Kenai Peninsula and signed a gas supply contract with Enstar Natural Gas Co.