Federal acreage downRepsol departs Chukchi, as offshore acreage drops; onshore also down ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Chukchi Sea lease map, not too long ago a checkerboard of lease blocks, is now essentially a blank sheet with a single tiny square in the middle. Repsol has dropped all of its Chukchi Sea leases, following Shell and ConocoPhillips’ relinquishment of their leases and the earlier departure of Statoil. The forlorn square on the BOEM map depicts Shell’s remaining lease, the lease containing the Burger J well that the company drilled in 2015 - presumably the company is holding the lease to maintain the confidentiality of the well data.
Beaufort Sea The situation in federal waters of the Beaufort Sea appears to be heading in a similar direction, although there are two oil development possibilities in the offing.
There remain 77 federal Beaufort Sea leases on the outer continental shelf. Three of these leases are associated with the Northstar oil field, owned and operated by Hilcorp Alaska and straddling state and federal waters. Two leases contain the undeveloped Liberty oil field, owned by Hilcorp and BP. Hilcorp, the operator, has plans to develop this field.
Shell, the sole owner of 42 of the remaining Beaufort Sea leases, all of them scheduled to expire by the end of 2017, has said that it has no plans to explore in the Arctic offshore in the foreseeable future.
That leaves 30 leases owned by various combinations of Eni Petroleum U.S., Repsol E&P USA and Shell - all of these leases are also slated to terminate in 2017. Eni has been discussing plans with federal regulators for the potential drilling of extended reach wells into federal leases north of the existing Nikaitchuq oil field, in state waters off the central North Slope. Repsol is engaged with Armstrong Oil and Gas in a potential major oil development onshore the North Slope but, otherwise, has stepped back from its earlier interest in Arctic Alaska exploration.
NPR-A Federal land onshore shows a more nuanced situation.
There is considerable interest in the oil and gas potential of the northeastern corner of the federally administered National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, where ConocoPhillips, partnered by Anadarko Petroleum, is executing a multiyear exploration and development campaign, extending west from the Colville River Delta area and involving the CD-5 drill site, development in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit, and new exploration drilling. Repsol, 70 & 148 LLC and GMT Exploration Co. also have leases in this area, along the boundary with state leases to the east.
Elsewhere in NPR-A previous lease positions have shrunk considerably in recent years, especially following a series of lease relinquishments and expiries in the late 2000s. In the Umiat area, in the southeast of the reserve, Renaissance Alaska holds two leases over the undeveloped Umiat oil field, while groups of private investors hold three leases to the immediate north. Renaissance is wholly owned by Linc Energy, the company which has been trying to develop Umiat.
There are a few other leases in three widely separated areas across NPR-A. A set of leases to the southwest of Smith Bay is owned by Nordaq, with blocks of leases elsewhere owned by Golden Eagle Petroleum.
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