Alaska's source for oil and gas news
Alaska's source for oil and gas news
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The Eagle Ford shale play of South Texas is now said to be among world’s largest oil and gas developments with a reported $61 billion in total economic impact on the region in 2012. The $61 billion in economic impact for Eagle Ford in 2012 represents an astounding 144 percent increase over a reported $25 billion for the area in 2011, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Texas’ Institute for Economic Development. “The Eagle Ford now ranks as the largest single oil and gas development in the world based on capital expen...
The Bakken has officially claimed its biggest victim, having toppled joint plans by Suncor Energy and France’s Total to build an upgrader to convert Alberta oil sands bitumen into synthetic crude for refining into transportation fuels. The C$11.6 billion Voyageur project was shelved indefinitely on March 27, ending months of gathering signals from Suncor Chief Executive Officer Steve Williams that the partially completed facility to process 200,000 barrels per day had lost the economic battle with a gusher of light sweet crude across North Amer...
Near the bottom of the Lodgepole formation along the southern flanks of the Bakken petroleum system in North Dakota and Montana lies an organic-rich limestone interval that can appear very similar to the Upper Bakken shale, to the extent the two have sometimes been confused. That confusion is what led drillers to dub the interval the “False Bakken.” Julie LeFever, director of the North Dakota Geological Survey’s Wilson M. Laird core and sample library, describes the False Bakken as a “very, very organic rich” limestone that “looks like the Ba...
Petroleum News Bakken is asking for nominations for its new annual magazine, The Bakken Explorers, in which qualified oil companies will be featured. Extending the Bakken petroleum system’s recoverable reserves is being done in one or more of the following three ways, any one of which qualifies an exploration and production company for coverage in the magazine: 1. Exploring laterally by testing the fringes of the known Bakken petroleum system. 2. Exploring vertically by evaluating relatively unproduced formations or formation members in the B...
After a successful career in real estate development in Maryland, Matt Rosendale bought a ranch between Sidney and Glendive, and 11 years ago moved his family across the country to far eastern Montana. A few years later, Rosendale saw the coming of the oil boom in the area, knew it would require substantial upgrades to the infrastructure and wanted to get involved as an advocate for those upgrades at the state level. So in 2011, Rosendale ran for and won a seat in the Montana House of Representatives and in 2012 won a Senate seat. He now...
It might have been small, but it was still a warning that moving crude by rail carries risks. A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying a mixed load of crude oil from Canada and other cargo derailed near Parkers Prairie, Minn., on March 27, spilling an estimated 20,000 gallons of crude from one car onto frozen prairie soil. Canadian Pacific spokesman Ed Greenberg said the cleanup process moved quickly, allowing the line to formally reopen on March 28 after track repairs and mandatory inspections, although the reasons for the accident are still...
American Eagle Energy Corp., a small E&P independent based in Littleton, Colo., said the final well completed on its Spyglass property just south of the U.S.-Canadian border in Divide County, N.D., during the 2013 first quarter confirmed “the high commercial potential” of the Middle Bakken formation in the area. Crescent Point Energy, the largest Bakken explorer in Canada, and Husky Oil Co. have been successful in developing the Middle Bakken member of the Bakken petroleum system on the north side of Spyglass, across the international bor...
Gordon J. Kerr, president and chief executive officer of Enerplus Corp. since 2001, has elected to retire from the Calgary, Alberta-based E&P independent effective June 30. Kerr also will be retiring as a board director. “Gord has been a central figure in Enerplus’ success over our 27 year history,” Enerplus Chairman Doug Martin said, noting that under Kerr’s leadership, Enerplus has grown into a $3 billion oil and gas company while distributing over $5 billion in dividends to investors. “Today, Enerplus is well positioned with substanti...
Abbreviations & parameters With a few exceptions, such as the Heath shale play in the central part of the state, the Montana weekly oil activity report includes horizontal well activity in the Bakken petroleum system in the eastern/northeastern part of the state within the Williston Basin. It also includes what is referred to as the South Alberta Bakken fairway in northwestern/west-central Montana, which is at least 175 miles long (north-south) and 50 miles wide (east-west), extending from southern Alberta, where the formation is generally refe...
Subscribers: To view the "North Dakota well operator transfers" chart in its entirety, please click on the above PDF link....
Subscribers: To view the "Bakken producers’ stock prices" chart in its entirety, please visit the above PDF link....
The Port of Lewiston in northern Idaho is advertising in Montana and North Dakota hoping to attract business from companies working in oil fields. At the end of March port commissioners approved spending $5,800 on ads that will appear in newspapers in Sidney, Mont., and Williston, N.D. “It’s advertising,” said Port Manager David Doeringsfeld. “The measurement will be the phone and what we receive in inquiries.” The Port of Lewiston is billed as the West Coast’s farthest inland port, connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Columbia and Snake r...
Larson Electronics said March 29 that it has added to its extensive range of industrial grade lighting equipment with the newly announced release of a metal halide light tower that features 330,000 lumen light output combined with pneumatic tower operation. Built to provide a high power lighting solution that requires minimal setup time or effort, the PLM-18-3X1000W Pneumatic Light Tower provides operators with an ideal lighting solution that features air powered tower extension and 3,000 watts of metal halide lighting. The Larson Electronics...
A recent Alaska Supreme Court ruling offers a mixed bag for state officials looking to streamline oil and gas approvals. In a 26-page opinion issued March 29, the high court ruled the state Department of Natural Resources need not write more than one “best interest finding” for an oil and gas project. The opinion reverses a lower court decision that would have required DNR to make such findings not only for lease sales, but for each subsequent project phase including exploration, development and transportation. The Supreme Court decision comes...
With the shale gas revolution having created a surplus of cheap natural gas in North America, and with the prospect of plentiful supplies of gas in the region for many years to come, how can people best take advantage of this new energy bonanza? And how might Alaska benefit from the growth of gas-related industries, especially petrochemicals? On Feb. 22 Daniel Carlson, Shell general manager for new business development for the Americas, talked to the Alaska World Affairs Council about some business drivers emerging from the shale gas...
Ed Stelmach won’t give up, but he’s fast becoming a lone voice amid the wreckage of a dozen plans to build upgraders and refineries in Alberta. With Stelmach’s long-held dream of seeing his province become the base for turning oil sands bitumen into synthetic crude for refining into transportation fuels headed for its biggest downfall, when Suncor Energy and Total signed the death warrant for their Voyageur project, the former Alberta premier made one last gasp plea. He urged the province to “aggressively pursue every opportunity” to capture t...
For more than a decade, the players behind the Kitchen Lights unit have argued the offshore oil and gas prospect may be one of the “hidden giants” of the Cook Inlet basin. In November 2011, then-operator Escopeta Oil Co. raised eyebrows when it claimed that early drilling at the Kitchen Lights Unit No. 1 well had discovered approximately 46.7 billion cubic feet of gas in place, suggesting 3.5 trillion cubic feet of gas in place for the entire prospect. The current operator, Furie Operating Alaska LLC, offered smaller figures at a legislative he...
The Alaska House of Representatives passed House Bill 4 on a party-line 30-9 vote April 1, sending the bill on to the Senate for consideration, which began April 2 in Senate Resources. HB 4 expands the authority of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., AGDC, establishing it as a standalone state corporation and providing what sponsors have called the tools needed by AGDC to move forward on planning for an in-state natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to tidewater. AGDC would take a project through open season and if there was sufficient...
Just wwhen one of the most substantive energy bills leaves the House Finance Committee, another one arrives. That’s pretty much been Bill Stoltze life in the committee since 2003. He’s sat through the 2006 change known under the Murkowski administration as PPT or the Petroleum Production Tax. He was around a year later under the Palin administration and ACES or Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share. Now in his third term as co-chair he presided over several proposed changes that went nowhere. That’s likely to change with Senate Bill 21, Gov. Se...
Canada’s National Energy Board has delivered sweeping changes to tolls and tariffs on TransCanada’s giant natural gas Mainline, leaving the company to ponder a “long and complex decision” and move ahead boldly with its entry into crude oil transportation. The federal regulator froze tolls on the ailing gas network until 2017 by rejecting TransCanada’s proposals “to improve competitiveness and recover costs.” It set a toll for gas moving from Alberta to southern Ontario at C$1.42 per gigajoule, compared with the C$2.58 that would have resulted...
Newfoundland, Canada’s only offshore oil producer, is targeting a rebound in output this year after a year of maintenance-related setbacks. The Atlantic province has forecast a combined 230,000 barrels per day from its three offshore oil fields this calendar year, up 16.9 percent from 2012. Hibernia is targeted at 136,000 bpd, up 5,400 bpd; White Rose is expected to yield 52,000 bpd, up 9,300 bpd; and Terra Nova is forecast to average 42,000 bpd, up 18,600 bpd. Output at Terra Nova and White Rose were the hardest hit by scheduled maintenance l...
House Resources completed its work on the oil tax bill in the early morning hours of April 4, passing a committee substitute for Senate Bill 21 on to House Finance. A preliminary analysis by the Alaska Department of Revenue done April 2 — before House Resources took amendments to the bill — provided an overview of the House Resources committee substitute, or CS. The bill retains the repeal of progressivity (from the governor’s bill), the base tax rate of 35 percent and the accompanying 35 percent net operating loss credit (from the Senat...
Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs actively drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by two the last week in March to 1,748. The Houston-based company said in its weekly report that 1,354 rigs were drilling for oil and 389 for gas. Five were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1,979 rigs. The report was issued March 28, a day early because of the Good Friday holiday. Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Oklahoma gained nine rigs, Colorado gained two and North Dakota and...
As, year by year, the extent of Arctic sea ice continues to decline, the volume of shipping using Arctic waters continues to rise. And with that increase in shipping there has come a growing concern about Arctic shipping safety and the need for an Arctic shipping support services and infrastructure. During a field hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard on March 27 people representing entities with a direct interest in Arctic shipping presented testimony to U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, describing...
After spending five months in Homer, the Endeavour jack-up drilling rig is finally on site at the offshore Cosmopolitan prospect, Buccaneer Energy Ltd. recently announced. The U.S. Coast Guard verified on March 29 that it had examined the drilling rig in Homer earlier in the week, and issued a Coast Guard Certificate of Compliance. With the certification, the rig left Homer around 8:30 a.m. on March 29 and arrived at the prospect off of the coast of Anchor Point the following day, according to Buccaneer. The company said the legs of the unit...
