Alaska's source for oil and gas news
Alaska's source for oil and gas news
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When asked to provide more color on the risk profile for the exploration drilling program APA Corp. is participating in this winter on Alaska's eastern North Slope, the company's CEO and President John J. Christmann said, "these are 3D and amplitude supported but this is a step-out in an area where there is risk associated with it so I'm not going to give you a number on a ratio. We're going to drill three wells and they are risky but they're high reward." APA is the holding company for Apache Corp. Its partners in the venture are operator...
A new coal- and biomass-fired power plant, coupled with carbon capture and storage, CCS, may provide the cheapest, lowest carbon and longest lasting answer to the problem of providing future electrical power to Southcentral Alaska as Cook Inlet's natural gas supply is depleted. This was the conclusion of studies that Frank Paskvan, with the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Institute of Northern Engineering, reviewed for the House Special Committee on Energy March 5. One, by the Alaska CCUS Workshop, published as SPE Paper 213051 last year...
ANS held its own in the $80s on the trading week ending Wednesday March 6, slipping just 5 cents over the week as it gained 84 cents on the day to close at $82.34 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate gained 98 cents to close at $79.13 and Brent gained 92 cents to close at $82.96. The Alaska benchmark tested the mid $80s March 1, jumping $1.14 to close at $83.05. WTI leapt $1.71 to close at $79.97 and Brent slipped 7 cents to close at $83.55. But all three benchmarks gave up ground on March 4 and March 5. On March 4 ANS fell 75 cents to close at...
On March 1, Jade Energy sent John Boyle. commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, by certified mail a "Request for Reconsideration of Commissioner Decision Relayed in Point Thomson Area F 2024 6th POD -- Held in Abeyance." (That decision was made on Feb. 24.) The request for reconsideration is a step in a process that must be followed before Jade can sue DNR in Alaska Superior Court. Erik Opstad, Jade managing member, has not publicly said whether court is his next step. Another option for the independent is to walk away and...
During its monthly meeting on Feb. 27 the Unalaska City Council allowed the expiry of a power purchase agreement with Ounalashka Chena Power LLC, or OCCP, for the purchase of electricity from a planned geothermal power plant on the flank of the Makushin volcano on Unalaska Island in the Aleutians. The decision leaves OCCP, developer of the project, without a customer for electricity from the geothermal system. And, with the company already experiencing difficulty in securing sufficient investment and grant funding to complete the project, the...
The number crunching for Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, TMX, is now in full swing with the new pipeline connection of 890,000 barrels per day from the Alberta oil sands to Vancouver's tanker terminal expected to generate C$40 billion in royalties and taxes over two decades, more than covering the C$31 billion price tag of the expansion project. So far, so good for Alberta. Although the TMX owner -- the Canadian government -- has yet to set an in-service date for TMX, the company has served notice to producers to start moving crude...
Hilcorp Alaska, operator of Beluga River on the west side of Cook Inlet, has filed a new plan of development and operations for the unit with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, with up to six new wells planned for the upcoming POD period of April 1 through March 31, 2025, following completion of five new wells in the current POD period, April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024. The company apparently plans to continue drilling new wells in 2025, as it said its 2024 plans include evaluating pads for expansion to support the 2025 drilling program....
The Baker Hughes' U.S. rotary drilling rig count was 629 for the week ending March 1, up by three rigs from 626 the previous week, but down by 120 from 749 a year ago. The rig count increased in five of the last eight weeks and decreased in three, with a gain of 14 against a loss of six over the period, bucking a downward trend dominant since the beginning of May. A drop of 17 to 731 on May 12, 2023, was the steepest weekly drop since June of 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the count also dropped by 17 to 284 on June...
Trans Canada Energy, Canada's second-largest oil and natural gas carrier, has demonstrated its steadfast commitment to complete C$3 billion of asset sales this year by unloading its Portland Natural Gas Transmission system for US$ 1.14 billion. In taking a big step towards its 2024 goals of trimming its balance sheet, Calgary-based TC Energy announced March 4 its sale of Portland Natural Gas is a "unique opportunity to support our capital commitments and deleverage priorities while continuing to meet the needs of the communities PNGTS serves."...
Fairbanks based Golden Valley Electric Association has modified its strategy for meeting its future power generation needs, in recognition of recent changes in the outlook for energy sources in the region. The changes in outlook include the availability of federal grant funding opportunities and the unavailability of reliable, lower cost energy sources to replace power from the utility's Healy Unit 2 coal fired power station, the utility says. In June 2022 the utility adopted a new strategy for power generation. That strategy consisted...
Alaska North Slope production averaged 476,119 barrels per day in January, down 6,540 bpd, 1.4%, from a December average of 482,659 bpd and down 4.9% from a January 2023 average of 500,747 bpd. Crude averaged 417,998 bpd, 87.8% of the total, down 5,971 bpd, 1.4%, from a December average of 423,969 bpd and down 4.9% from a January 2023 average of 439,735 bpd. Natural gas liquids averaged 58,121 bpd in January, 12.2% of the total, down 569 bpd, 1%, from a December average of 58,691 bpd and down 4.7% from a January 2023 average of 61,012 bpd....
Natural gas production in Cook Inlet averaged 216,685 thousand cubic feet per day in January, up 3,661 mcf per day, 1.7%, from a December average of 213,023 mcf per day but down 3.8% from a January 2023 average of 225,202 mcf per day. Volumes are calculated from Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission data, reported on a month-delay basis. For natural gas AOGCC reports measurements in thousands of cubic feet, mcf. Twenty fields produced natural gas in January, with seven -- each with 5% or more of the total -- accounting for a combined...
On Oct. 27, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas received assignment applications under 11 AAC 82.605(f) transferring complete interest in Mustang Holding LLC, or Mustang, and Mustang Operations Center 1 LLC, or MOC1, from Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, to Finnex Operating LLC for the following state of Alaska leases: ADLs 390680, 390681, 390690, 390691 and 39069. The assignor and assignee represented the following to DNR: *AIDEA currently owns 100% membership of Mustang; *Mustang...
Hilcorp Alaska has filed its plan of development and operations for the Kenai unit with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the period April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025. Kenai is a major natural gas field, one of Cook Inlet's largest, with Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission production data showing the field averaged 18,486 thousand cubic feet of gas per day in January, the most recent month for which information is available. Production at Kenai is in decline, with this January's volumes down 17.7% from a January 2023 average of...
On March 1 Hilcorp Alaska submitted plans of development to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas for three small natural gas fields on the west side of Cook Inlet north of the Beluga River field -- Ivan River, Lewis River and Pretty Creek. All three plans cover June 1 through May 31, 2025. In January, the most recent month for which Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission production data are available, the three fields combined accounted for just over 2% of Cook Inlet gas production, with no production from...
Editor's note: This story was first published in the March 7, 2004, issue of Petroleum News. The company preparing a "shoppers guide" for space in North Slope production facilities expects to submit a final draft to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas within the next three weeks. Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska turned in its first draft Feb. 1, 2004, and expects to complete the "final draft of the study before the end of March," PRA managing partner Tom Walsh told Petroleum News March 3, 2004. Walsh is the "project lead" for the...
PND Engineers, Inc. said Feb. 29 that it recently promoted four engineers in its Anchorage office: Jared Kinney, PE; Cameron Klatt, PE; Kannon Lee, PE; and Taylor Mortensen, PE. All four engineers, three of whom were born and raised in Alaska, recently passed their Principles & Practice of Engineering exams in the state of Alaska and were promoted to PND senior engineers. Klatt previously appeared in the Business Spotlight in February 2024. Jared Kinney, PE Kinney, a Chugiak High School and University of Alaska Anchorage alumnus, has over five...
