Alaska's source for oil and gas news
Alaska's source for oil and gas news
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The Alaska Legislature’s House Resources Committee is considering House Bill 381 by Gov. Mike Dunleavy which would change property tax for the Alaska LNG Project to an alternative volumetric tax on the gas flowing through the line once that volume reaches 1 billion cubic feet per day. The committee had a presentation April 1 by Nick Fulford, senior director, LNG and Energy Transition, with GaffneyCline Energy Advisory. Fulford focused on how LNG project host governments typically work with project developers and the role property tax or the a...
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has approved a new production allocation methodology for the Point Thomson unit Thomson oil pool, a needed approval as Hilcorp Alaska works to bring PTU 19 into production. In its April 3 administrative approval of a change in the existing conservation order for Point Thomson production, the commission said Hilcorp would be bringing PTU 19, the second production well, online soon, requiring an approved method of production allocation between the two wells. The existing conservation order was...
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's Short-Term Energy Outlook for April, released April 7, is focused on implications of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. "Our petroleum forecasts are highly contingent on the interaction of three variables," EIA Administrator Tristan Abbey said: "First, to even run our model we have to make an assumption about the duration of the Strait of Hormuz closure. Second, we know that the closure is forcing production to shut in, but we can only estimate thes...
Baker Hughes' U.S. rotary drilling rig count was 548 on April 2, up by five from the previous week and down 42 from 590 a year ago. The domestic rig count has ranged from the 530s through the 550s since the beginning of June. For 2025, the count peaked in February and again in March at 593, hitting its low point in August at 526. For 2024, the count peaked in March at 629, hitting its low point in June at 581. In 2023 the count peaked in January at 775, bottoming out in November at 616. A drop...
ConocoPhillips Alaska has applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas for a unit plan of operations amendment to upgrade sections of the road system in the Kuparuk River unit and restore or replace up to 16 culverts. Some 94,900 cubic yards of gravel will be required and 15 culverts will be extended or replaced, the division said, to upgrade roads by widening select curves and narrow sections for transport of heavy equipment and infrastructure, including...
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas has found no substantial new information following a Feb. 5 request for substantial new information for the 2026 North Slope, North Slope Foothills and Beaufort Sea areawide oil and gas lease sales. In a decision issued April 1, Haley Paine, acting director of the Division of Oil and Gas, said no substantial new information was received in response to the request. Once a best interest finding is issued for an areawide lease sale, it is valid for 10 years and subject to an a...
The U.S. Department of the Interior said April 3 that it is combining functions of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement into the Marine Minerals Administration. The department said the "action is intended to improve coordination and increase efficiencies across offshore leasing, permitting, inspections and environmental oversight, while maintaining all existing regulatory protections and rigorous safety standards. "This is about building an...
Legislator’s issues with the governor’s plan to replace property tax for the Alaska LNG Project with a volumetric alternate tax were clear in a March 30 meeting of the Senate Resources Committee which heard from the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the state’s entity in the project and the developer Glenfarne Alaska followed by an analysis by the Department of Revenue. AGDC and Glenfarne told the committee that the bill promoted fiscal certainty crucial to investments in the project and said the property tax changes the bill proposes are a...
The plan put forward by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Glenfarne and the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. to replace property tax with an alternative volumetric tax is being opposed by mayors of the boroughs which would house portions of the project and which would be impacted during construction. Mayors Edna DeVries of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Grier Hopkins of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Peter Micciche of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Chris Noel of the Denali Borough and Josiah Patkotak of the North Slope Borough told the Senate Resources...
Alaska North Slope production for February averaged 459,107 barrels per day, down 13,305 bpd, 2.82%, from a January average of 472,413 bpd, and down 5.54% from a February 2025 average of 485,033 bpd. Crude averaged 408,468 bpd in February, 88.97% of the total, down 12,259 bpd, 2.91%, from a January average of 420,727 bpd and down 5.16% from a February 2025 average of 430,670 bpd. Natural gas liquids averaged 50,639 bpd in February, 11.03% of the total, down 1,047 bpd, 2.03%, from a January average of 51,686 bpd and down 8.53% from a February...
Baker Hughes’ U.S. rotary drilling rig count was 543 on March 27, down by nine from the previous week, the steepest drop since November, and down 49 from 592 a year ago. The domestic rig count has ranged from the 530s through the 550s since the beginning of June. For 2025, the count peaked in February and again in March at 593, hitting its low point in August at 526. For 2024, the count peaked in March at 629, hitting its low point in June at 581. In 2023 the count peaked in January at 775, bottoming out in November at 616. A drop of 17 to 7...
Glenfarne Alaska LNG LLC President Adam Prestidge, joined by Alaska Gasline Development Corp. Commercial Manager Matt Kissinger and former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, a strategic consulting advisor with Brownstein and through a subcontract with Northern Compass Group contracted by the Dunleavy administration on the Alaska LNG Project, took a barrage of questions March 23 at a meeting of the Alaska Legislature’s House Resources Committee. Glenfarne had a slide presentation, but this was the first opportunity committee members had to address G...
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is proposing replacing the state’s oil and gas property tax for the Alaska LNG Project with a tax based on the volume of natural gas moving through the pipeline. The measure, House Bill 381 and Senate Bill 280, “modernizes oil and gas property tax structure to be more competitive among global LNG projects and deliver lowest cost to Alaskan customers,” according to the March 20 release from the governor’s office. Adam Prestidge, president of Glenfarne Alaska LNG LLC said in a statement that the company supports the pro...
Baker Hughes’ U.S. rotary drilling rig count was 552 on March 20, down by one from the previous week and down 41 from 593 a year ago. The domestic rig count has ranged from the 530s through the 550s since the beginning of June. For 2025, the count peaked Feb. 28 (and again March 21) at 593, hitting its low point Aug. 29 at 526. For 2024, the count peaked March 1 (and again March 15) at 629, hitting its low point June 28 at 581. In 2023 the count peaked early in the year at 775 on Jan. 13, bottoming out Nov. 10 at 616. A drop of 17 to 731 on M...
The Bureau of Land Management had a record lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska March 18, with nine successful bidders placing high bids on 187 tracts (1,334,967 acres) for a total of $163,696,722. BLM offered 625 tracts, some 5.5 million acres, and received bids from 11 bidders. While the dollar amount and the number of tracts receiving bids set a record, the sale came in second for acres receiving bids — the record was 1,403,561 acres in a 2004 sale in which 5.8 million acres were offered. In remarks after the bids were r...
The Alaska Department of Revenue’s spring forecast, released March 13, is based on Alaska North Slope prices averaging $75.26 per barrel for the current fiscal year, FY 26, which ends June 30, up $9.77 per barrel from the fall revenue forecast which was released in December. The production forecast shows an average of 459,200 barrels per day, up 2,100 bpd from the fall forecast of 468,000 bpd, primarily from Pikka, expected to come online by the end of March. The difference in unrestricted revenue is an increase in $544,700, up from a fall f...
Baker Hughes’ U.S. rotary drilling rig count was 553 on March 13, up by two from the previous week and down 39 from 592 a year ago. The domestic rig count has ranged from the 530s through the 550s since the beginning of June. For 2025, the count peaked Feb. 28 (and again March 21) at 593, hitting its low point Aug. 29 at 526. For 2024, the count peaked March 1 (and again March 15) at 629, hitting its low point June 28 at 581. In 2023 the count peaked early in the year at 775 on Jan. 13, bottoming out Nov. 10 at 616. A drop of 17 to 731 on M...
Hilcorp Alaska has filed an application for a unit plan of operations amendment with the Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas to expand the Kalotsa pad in the Ninilchik unit and drill new grassroots wells. Kalotsa, one of the more southernly pads in the unit, has accounted for 13.56% of natural gas production at Ninilchik over the life of the field and in January, the most recent month for which Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission production data is available, Kalotsa accounted for 48.77% of Ninilchik production. O...
The Senate Resources Committee began hearings March 13 on Senate Bill 275, a bill the committee sponsored which addresses concerns about the structure and benefits of the project to Alaska. In a sponsor statement the committee noted concern about confidentiality around project details, “including oversight structures, financial terms, and potential state revenue.” In introducing the bill, Committee Chair Cathy Giessel said a question which always arises on a bill or resolution is why is this needed. She said when the Legislature last considered...
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office has issued decisions for two negotiated leases: an oil and gas lease in the Tyonek area on the west side of Cook Inlet to Hilcorp Alaska and a land lease to Tugliq Energy USA Inc. near Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula. The best interest decisions were issued March 9 by Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office Executive Director Jusdi Warner. The oil and gas lease is approximately 1 mile east of the Granite Point Tank Farm, operated by Hilcorp. “Hilcorp proposes to target the historic Kaloa structure, with...
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued its 2026 Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources for the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, providing 'estimates of undiscovered, technically and economically recoverable oil and natural gas resources outside of known oil and gas fields on the OCS.' BOEM said the 2026 assessment is a multi-year effort including data and information available Jan. 1, 2024. For the entire OCS, estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable resources, UTRR, range from 53.75...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed Tom McKay to the public seat on the three-member Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and McKay had a confirmation hearing March 9 before the House Resources Committee - a committee he chaired when he was a member of the Legislature. McKay told the committee that when he arrived in Alaska in 1980, - a freshly minted petroleum engineer from Montana Tech,- his first project was drilling an oil well from the Bruce Platform in Cook Inlet for Amoco Production Co. He said he recalled applying to Chad Chatterton,...
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued its 2026 Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources for the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, providing 'estimates of undiscovered, technically and economically recoverable oil and natural gas resources outside of known oil and gas fields on the OCS.' BOEM said the 2026 assessment is a multi-year effort including data and information available Jan. 1, 2024. For the entire OCS, estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable resources, UTRR, range from 53.75...
Baker Hughes- U.S. rotary drilling rig count was 551 on March 6, up by one from the previous week and down 41 from 592 a year ago. The domestic rig count has ranged from the 530s through the 550s since the beginning of June. For 2025, the count peaked Feb. 28 (and again March 21) at 593, hitting its low point Aug. 29 at 526. For 2024, the count peaked March 1 (and again March 15) at 629, hitting its low point June 28 at 581. In 2023 the count peaked early in the year at 775 on Jan. 13, bottoming out Nov. 10 at 616. A drop of 17 to 731 on May...
The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas garnered only a single bid in its March 4 Cook Inlet oil and gas lease sale and no bids were received for the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's Cook Inlet sale. A Cook Inlet areawide sale is part of the state's regular areawide lease sales with sales held annually. Three Mountain Oil LLC bid a 33.99% net profit share for the 20-acre tract at the southern tip of the state's Kenai Peninsula offerings. With a fixed cash bonus per acre of $30, the cash bonus was $600. Jim Winegarner is the agent and...
