Copyright (c) 2012 Petroleum News, All rights reserved. http://www.petroleumnews.com Petroleum News, providing coverage of Alaska and Canada. en-us Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:46 PST http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/600068723.shtml Last year the Alaska House picked away at issues surrounding an in-state gas pipeline, moving three bills to the Senate. In July, the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. delivered its feasibility report to the Legislature, complete with a list of recommended legislative changes. House Speaker Mike Ch... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/856274370.shtml A steep rise in oil prices last year helped ConocoPhillips earn nearly $2 billion in Alaska, an increase over 2010 earning despite falling oil and natural gas production in the state. ConocoPhillips earned $1.9 billion in Alaska last year, up from $1.7 billion in 2010. While ConocoPhillips' annual e... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/921656230.shtml TransCanada is digging deep into its bag of tricks to outwit opponents of Keystone XL, save what it can of the $1.9 billion it has already invested on the $7 billion project and stop those who have signed shipping contracts from walking away. Faced with one analyst's prediction that its shares will... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/820006971.shtml A new report by the research firm McDowell Group is shedding light on seemingly contradictory North Slope employment figures and an apparent spike in nonresident hire. North Slope employment dropped sharply in 2009 but has since rebounded and is now at an all-time high. Industry spending is up, but... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/109727273.shtml Although Great Bear Petroleum does not yet have a drilling rig for its North Slope shale exploration and evaluation program, the director of Alaska's Division of Oil and Gas told state lawmakers Jan. 20 that the company has secured the primary government authorizations and permits necessary for its... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/769935052.shtml Gov. Sean Parnell, in his recent State of the State speech to the Alaska Legislature, laid out some rather specific steps for oil companies and the state to take over the next year in the continuing quest for a natural gas pipeline. What does the governor's schedule mean? In concrete terms, not very... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/131138313.shtml Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, co-chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said the House and Senate Judiciary committees will hold a joint hearing on the coastal zone initiative to satisfy legal requirements. The initiative would reestablish a coastal zone management program. The existing program lapsed... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/996296924.shtml Shell Canada has put C$970 million on the table in a major reawakening of exploration in offshore Nova Scotia. That's what it bid to win the rights to four deepwater parcels in hopes of finding oil in a region the Nova Scotia government estimates holds 8 billion barrels, based on preliminary work th... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/465713693.shtml The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has rescheduled an Anchorage scoping meeting for the Alaska Pipeline Project, the proposal to build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Canada to connect with markets in the Lower 48. FERC said Jan. 20 that the scoping meeting will be Feb. 13 at 7... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/756816053.shtml Kenai Pipe Line Co., Tesoro Alaska Co. and Tesoro Logistics Operations LLC filed a request Sept. 1 asking that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission determine that pipeline routes under Kenai Pipe Line Co.'s FERC tariff are not subject to FERC jurisdiction under the Interstate Commerce Act. Tesor... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/515206259.shtml An Alaska state legislator says the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has 'ignored its responsibility' to properly square away dozens of old, abandoned well sites on the North Slope. Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, on Jan. 17 introduced House Joint Resolution 29 urging the BLM 'to plug legacy wells... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/804417176.shtml A number of oil and gas issues were on the table Jan. 20 when Commissioner of Natural Resources Dan Sullivan updated the House Resources Committee on the department's activities. Extra money the Legislature provided to the department last year helped reduce the backlog of applications in the Divisi... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/697787854.shtml Teck Resources, Canada's largest producer of metallurgical coal and zinc, is taking an even bolder step into oil sands mining with a C$435 million bid to acquire SilverBirch Energy, its 50 percent partner in the Frontier lease. If the transaction is ratified by two-thirds of SilverBirch shareholders... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/934509646.shtml While Alaska wonders if its liquefied natural gas export market will ever return, gas producers in the Lower 48 are wondering if their LNG export market will ever begin. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has jumbled that question with a report suggesting that exports would drive up natural... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/23019734.shtml The many billions of barrels of heavy oil lying at shallow depths under Alaska's central North Slope have spurred much interest in finding viable ways of turning this huge resource into a marketable commodity. Heavy oil, with a consistency of honey, is difficult to extract from an oil reservoir and... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/66329692.shtml In a preliminary report released Jan. 20 the Alaska Northern Waters Task Force said economic benefits to Alaska could be substantial from diminishing sea ice and the intensifying international race for natural resources. But, the task force said, the state also needs to provide for sustainable comm... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/166783923.shtml Alaska's Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys is starting an investigation of the oil and gas potential of the Nenana basin, in Alaska's interior, about 50 miles southwest of Fairbanks, DGGS geologist Dave LePain told Petroleum News on Jan. 24. The DGGS-led research project is being funded... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/485220158.shtml ASRC Energy Services Inc. said Jan. 4 that it has named Shanna Davidson as its supply chain manager. As manager, Davidson will oversee the development and implementation of market sector and strategic sourcing strategies in support of ASRC Energy Services operations. She will be responsible for ide... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/843592935.shtml CH2M HILL, a global full-service consulting, design, construction and operations firm, said Jan. 18 that it is pleased to announce the recent signing of a significant Framework Agreement with Statoil Canada Ltd. Valued at nearly $400 million, total installed cost, CH2M Hill's FA is for engineering,... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/938867147.shtml Alaska drilling regulators have issued an order authorizing a procedure to test production from an experimental natural gas hydrate well in the Prudhoe Bay field. The procedure involves injecting a mixed stream of carbon dioxide and nitrogen gases into the Ignik Sikumi No. 1 well. The well, already... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/978792362.shtml NordAq Energy Inc. is moving ahead on its efforts to test and potentially develop a Cook Inlet natural gas discovery that the company announced last year. The Alaska-based independent wants to test the Shadura No. 1 well to determine if the prospect can produce commercially. The company is currentl... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/253559032.shtml President Barack Obama on Jan. 13 proposed moving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration out of the Commerce Department and into the Interior Department. It's one prong of a reorganization plan meant to make the government more efficient and helpful to business with less duplication, Ob... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/794009301.shtml When it comes to figuring out how Keystone XL finished in such a pickle, there is no end to the blame game. You can pin the plight on Hollywood stars such as Margot Kidder and Robert Redford, who lent their names to environmental protests; or the environmentalists themselves, labeled by Canada's Nat... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/368396205.shtml Buccaneer Energy Ltd. is taking a stab at the Cosmopolitan prospect. The Australian independent and BlueCrest Energy II, LP, a privately held energy company out of Fort Worth, Texas, announced Feb. 2 that they have purchased two leases at the offshore Cook Inlet prospect from Pioneer Natural Resourc... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/47439655.shtml The Canadian government will introduce measures 'within months' to expedite regulatory reviews of major energy and mining projects, preventing a repetition of the prolonged Mackenzie Gas Project or MGP process and the current stonewalling by opponents of Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline. Prime... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/3934473.shtml As Shell edges toward drilling in the Alaska Arctic outer continental shelf, or OCS, the stakes are high in the standoff between the proponents of offshore development and those who view the Arctic seas as an unduly risky venue for oil drilling at present. But what are the perspectives of people on... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/464863631.shtml Record breaking cold in northern Alaska has interfered with North Slope exploration programs, eating into the already short window of January to mid-April for winter drilling. The majority of ice roads being constructed for this year's winter exploration season are in the western coastal region. Due... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/959979284.shtml Enstar Natural Gas Co., Southcentral Alaska's natural gas distribution company, is on its way to becoming part of a Canadian energy infrastructure business, Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd. AltaGas said Feb. 1 that it will pay more than $1.1 billion for natural gas businesses in Alaska and Michigan. Its... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/107861804.shtml Senate leaders made clear in a press conference Jan. 26 that Gov. Sean Parnell's HB 110, which passed the House last year, would not be the vehicle for reforming the state's oil production tax. Instead, they said, the Senate Resources Committee will introduce a bill focusing on two key components o... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/442879509.shtml Two major tax issues - revisions to Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share or ACES and decoupling - are up for consideration in the Alaska Legislature this year. Or perhaps continuing consideration would be a better term. A decoupling bill, which would separate oil and natural gas for calculating the... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/101942821.shtml Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management say the agency is monitoring environmental risk from old wells on federal land on Alaska's North Slope, and is updating plans for remediating the drill sites. The comments come in response to an Alaska state legislator's charge that the BLM has negle... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/108961674.shtml The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, CAPP, is attempting to get one jump ahead of public opinion by introducing six new 'operating practices' for its member companies to protect multi-stage fracturing wells, now viewed as the drilling technology that is most crucial to the industry's fut... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/763886471.shtml Linc Energy Inc. is postponing its drilling program at the Umiat prospect in northern Alaska this winter because of 'logistical and weather issues,' according to the company. Although previously reported in Petroleum News, the announcement is the first official acknowledgment from the company that i... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/620849814.shtml In addition to a production test the company plans to run on a previously drilled well, NordAq Energy Inc. is permitting a second well at its onshore Shadura prospect on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. The Shadura appraisal well would be drilled from state land - lease ADL 391596 - into Cook Inlet Region... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/700316199.shtml A struggling electric power cooperative is looking to the Alaska Legislature for funding to continue its geothermal exploration program. Officers of Naknek Electric Association on Jan. 27 testified before the House Resources Committee in Juneau, saying $3.2 million is needed right away to complete a... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/909413113.shtml Driven by potential energy shortages in Southcentral Alaska and encouraged by various state incentives, the energy scene in the Cook Inlet region has sparked into a newly invigorated life. And, although new exploration for natural gas has grabbed many of the headlines in this evolving situation, sev... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/524542648.shtml Buccaneer Alaska LLC is permitting a 3-D seismic campaign on the Kenai Peninsula. The local subsidiary of the Australian independent Buccaneer Energy Ltd plans to shoot 30 square miles in and around the city of Kenai, in the vicinity of its Kenai Loop field. Buccaneer plans to use a combination of s... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/20987693.shtml Crescent Point Energy has taken another step toward claiming a dominant role in the Lower Shaunavon and Bakken resource oil plays of southern Saskatchewan - both of them Canadian extensions of the Williston basin in North Dakota and Montana. Extending a series of takeovers of small oil producers, Cr... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/990605613.shtml It's a fascinating debate. But could it be done? Participants in a visit to Norway last year by legislators and other stakeholders in the Alaska oil and gas industry have been enthusing about Norway's oil and gas licensing system, a system that some say encourages higher levels of oil and gas invest... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/122468155.shtml The Alaska Legislature's House and Senate Judiciary committees will hold a joint hearing on a ballot initiative for re-establishing the state's coastal management program Feb. 6. The state's program died last year when the House and Senate could not agree on a bill continuing the Alaska Coastal Man... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/12649454.shtml In January, a small team of federal officials were to visit a handful of Alaska villages to discuss with local tribal leaders the proposed multibillion-dollar gas pipeline project - one government to another. The meetings - or consultations, as they're called - stem from an 18-year-old presidential... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/562754537.shtml The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published the draft environmental impact statement, or DEIS, for the 737-mile Alaska Stand Alone Gas Pipeline, ASAP, project bringing Alaska North Slope natural gas to Fairbanks and Cook Inlet. The project sponsor, the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., said the... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/510368950.shtml It was one of those cringe-inducing moments. Just as the top brass at Kinder Morgan were regaling analysts with their grand plans for pipeline projects across North America to take advantage of the rush to drill for liquids in gas-prone regions and to fill a possible void if TransCanada's Keystone X... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/906324573.shtml Southcentral Alaska's cold winter has created a challenge for oil production in Cook Inlet, with ice conditions in the inlet restricting tankers from accessing the offloading terminal at Drift River. As a result, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is allowing Hilcorp Alaska LLC to tempo... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/17950304.shtml The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has approved a request by Repsol EandP USA Inc. to form the Qugruk unit on the North Slope, but in a significantly reduced form. While Repsol originally proposed a 98,852-acre unit over 49 state leases, the state ultimately approved a 12,065-acre unit over si... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/137475246.shtml A proposal intended to advance an in-state natural gas pipeline project goes too far in giving too much authority to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the leading House Democrat said Jan. 31. Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, said she has 'terrible concerns' about HB9, which she said isn't the answ... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/789282398.shtml The Environmental Protection Agency has published for public review draft wastewater general permits for oil and gas exploration activities in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The permits come under the National Pollutant Discharge System, or NPDES, and are designed to protect the marine environment a... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/622179641.shtml The Regulatory Commission of Alaska is putting off its decision on a small North Slope natural gas pipeline for another month as it works through some issues on the case. Polar LNG LLC is seeking certification to build and operate a pipeline from Flow Station 1 at the Prudhoe Bay unit to a pad in De... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/127593042.shtml The eastern coastal area of Alaska's North Slope opened for tundra travel Jan. 31. The Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water said soil temperatures and snow cover within the eastern coastal area met criteria for opening, which is six inches of snow and a soil temperatu... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/48338171.shtml With Alaska politicians and oil company executives talking - again - about prospects for exporting liquefied North Slope natural gas, the question has arisen - again - whether the federal loan guarantee could be used for such a project. The short answer is no, not for a project that 'ships gas exclu... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/262176787.shtml Baker Hughes said Jan. 19 that it is the first integrated oilfield service company to receive full accreditation of its Competence Management Program from the International Association of Drilling Contractors. IADC's system for accrediting competency assurance programs reviews and confirms that a c... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/697952386.shtml Crowley Maritime Corp. said Jan. 27 that to better serve its customers, its Miami-based liner services and logistics personnel, along with those from subsidiary Customized Brokers, are relocating to a new office and warehouse in the heart of the Miami import-export community at 10205 NW 108 Avenue,... http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/201942248.shtml Doyon Emerald, a full-service engineering and consulting firm, said Jan. 27 that it was recognized for its marketing communications efforts by the Public Relations Society of America, PRSA, Alaska Chapter at their annual Aurora Awards Banquet held on Jan. 26. Doyon Emerald, along with Solstice Adver...