Alaska's source for oil and gas news
Alaska's source for oil and gas news
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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...
Alaska North Slope crude jumped $2.24 March 17 to close at $106.01 per barrel, consolidating its position in the $100s as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz continued to choke off one fifth of the world’s oil supply. West Texas Intermediate jumped $2.71 to close at $96.21 and Brent jumped $3.21 to close at $103.42. The action capped a volatile trading week that roiled crude and financial markets with every headline as the United States and Israel continued to pound targets in Iran, while Iran retaliated by flinging its armaments a...
The State of Alaska, Enstar Natural Gas Co. and Chugach Electric Association have filed responses to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska’s request for information on potential liquefied natural gas importing arrangements to bolster gas supplies for utilities in Southcentral Alaska. Hilcorp Alaska anticipates the phasing out of firm gas supply contracts, starting as soon as 2028, in response to declining production from Cook Inlet basin gas and oil fields. Glenfarne Alaska is planning to build a gas pipeline from the North Slope to S...
On March 12 the Alaska Department of Natural Resources announced the promotion of two experienced DNR employees into senior leadership roles. Current Director of the Division of Oil and Gas Derek Nottingham will be serving in an acting capacity as DNR deputy commissioner pending confirmation of the commissioner-designee, and current Deputy Director Haley Paine will be elevated to acting director of the Division of Oil and Gas pending confirmation of the commissioner-designee, both effective immediately. “Having worked with Derek and Haley close...
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...
In a March 11 public meeting of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, Rob Bryngelson from Cook Inlet LNG LLC talked about his company’s plan to enable the importing of liquefied natural gas to Southcentral Alaska using a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit, or FSRU. The FSRU would be moored adjacent to the existing Osprey platform off the West Foreland area on the west side of the Cook Inlet. The platform sits well outside any existing shipping lanes, Bryngelson told the commission. Natural gas delivered from the FSRU to the platform c...
The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska’s latest explorer, Australia-based IPB Petroleum Limited, recently changed its name to Forte Energy Limited and even more recently on March 12 completed the acquisition of a substantial oil lease position on Alaska’s North Slope, securing 143,368 acres across 13 leases within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The acquisition was finalized through the purchase of Peritas LLC, the registered holder of the leases, following completion of the lease assignment process. Peritas, an Alaska registered com...
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...
On March 6 the three environmental organizations that had filed a complaint in the federal District Court in Alaska, claiming that the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ current plan for exploration in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska was illegal, have asked the court to dismiss the case. No explanation was provided for the dismissal request. ConocoPhillips has been moving ahead with its exploration program that involves the drilling of four exploration wells, together with three-dimensional seismic surveying over an...
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...
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the March 12, 2006, issue of Petroleum News. On the weekend of March 11, 2006, Enstar Natural Gas Co. plans to tie its new pipeline crossing of the east channel of the Susitna River into its pipeline that carries natural gas from the west side of the Cook Inlet to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and Anchorage, Dan Dieckgraeff, Enstar’s manager of finance and rates, said at a Regulatory Commission of Alaska public hearing on March 9. Rapid erosion of the east channel of the river has forced Enstar to rep...
As of March 12, almost 60% of Doyon Rig 26 — approximately 58% — has been deconstructed and removed from the site, the Unified Command reports. As previously shared, the deconstructed rig will initially be decontaminated onsite and then transported to another location where it will ultimately be thoroughly cleaned and recycled. The rig move incident occurred on Jan. 23 while Doyon Drilling Inc., or DDI, was moving the rig on a gravel road near the community of Nuiqsut. Nicknamed the “Beast,” the 165-foot high, 9.5-million-pound high-te...
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...
