Alaska's source for oil and gas news
Alaska's source for oil and gas news
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One of the most ambitious players in the Alaska oil and gas sector is not a producer, or a pipeline company, or even an oil field services company. It’s a public corporation. After decades with limited involvement in the largest private industry in the state, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is currently involved in drilling, infrastructure and distribution projects on the North Slope, Cook Inlet and the Interior. Just five years ago, AIDEA was involved in only a handful of energy projects, including the Snettisham H...
Federal land managers have released a final environmental impact statement for the proposed Shadura natural gas development on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. And the company pursuing the project apparently is uneasy with some of the alternatives still on the table. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking public comments on the EIS until June 23. The 538-page document analyzes NordAq Energy Inc.’s proposed gas development in the northwestern section of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. NordAq is assured of the right to tap the gas. The mai...
When the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers issues its annual crude oil forecast in June it expects to stick with last year’s target of a doubling of oil sands output to 3.8 million barrels per day over the next 20 years. Others show signs of being less bullish. Faced with opposition from all sides to pipeline expansions out of Alberta, rising capital costs, tighter Canadian government limits on foreign investment, wild swings in Canadian crude prices and softening returns, the investment community seems to have tempered its enthusiasm...
Enstar Natural Gas Co. hopes to hook up its first customers in Homer on Alaska’s southern Kenai Peninsula as soon as July, John Lau, the utility’s directory of engineering, told the Regulatory Commission of Alaska on May 29. “Our goal is to have 1,200 customers served this fall,” Lau said. Homer has long hoped to have gas supplies for heating buildings — recent gas developments in the southern Kenai Peninsula, including the development of the North Fork gas field, are finally converting that hope into a reality. Lau said that contracting compan...
The joint venture partner Royale Energy announced, but did not name, April 10, is Australia-based Rampart Energy Ltd., listed on the Australian stock exchange as RTD. The two companies closed their farm-in agreement at the end of May, a deal giving Rampart the ability to earn up to 38,000 net onshore acres of Royale’s 96,000 acre Alaska North Slope holdings that are prospective for both conventional and unconventional oil. The transaction includes Rampart funding the drilling of two wells with horizontal legs in the Western Block of R...
With contracts in the offing for gas supplies through to 2018, the Southcentral Alaska utilities have gained some welcome breathing space in making a decision over whether and how to import gas into the Southcentral region, as supplies from aging Cook Inlet gas fields decline, John Lau, director of engineering for Enstar Natural Gas Co., told the Regulatory Commission of Alaska on May 29. Previously, with gas deliverability likely to run short during the winter of 2014-15, the utilities had been faced with fast-tracking a capability to import...
Sen. Pete Kelly picked up right where he left off 10 years ago. The Fairbanks senator is co-chair of the Senate Finance committee, which heard some heavy hitting legislation that changed the state’s oil tax regime and set aside Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share, ACES, in favor of Senate Bill 21; put in place a plan (the just signed SB 23) to truck liquefied natural gas to his Interior district; and advanced a small-diameter natural gas pipeline (House Bill 4). Reflecting to the turn of the 20th century, when oil fetched $9 a barrel and fig...
Undeterred by a shaky capital market outlook, privately owned Osum Oil Sands is pressing ahead with a succession of five projects it expects to see come onstream from 2015 to 2020 and produce a gross 390,000 barrels per day. The bundle includes Saleski, the world’s first carbonate project using thermal horizontal well recovery processes to produce bitumen from Alberta’s Grosmont formation — a C$550 million project with Laricina Energy as operator and 60 percent owner. Osum’s latest moves include filings with Alberta regulators to build, own and...
Rather than wait for the inevitable, Kinder Morgan has decided it would sooner tackle all of the expected opposition to its planned Trans Mountain pipeline expansion at the same time. In filing a formal project description of the proposed C$5.4 billion project to raise the system’s capacity to 890,000 barrels per day from 300,000 bpd, it pre-empted other moves by asking the Canadian government to order the highest level of regulatory review. Project leader Carey Johannesson said Kinder Morgan wants the regulatory hearing to be covered by b...
Since going into operation in the late 1980s and following peak production in the early 1990s, BP’s Endicott field continues to make a valuable if modest contribution to Alaska North Slope oil output. In 2012 the field delivered 2.9 million barrels of oil, according to a report submitted by BP in March to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Total cumulative production from the field since startup has been 461 million barrels of oil, the report said. Operated from an artificial gravel island in the nearshore waters of the Beaufort Sea, c...
For the fifth time since 2009, ExxonMobil Pipeline Corp. is seeking to increase the rate it charges to ship crude oil on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline to destinations in the state. Exxon is proposing to charge $4.09 to ship a barrel of oil from the North Slope to North Pole and as much as $6.47 to ship to Valdez, depending on the destination. (There are two off-take points in Valdez: the PetroStar refinery and the Valdez Marine Terminal.) The change represents a roughly 8.5 percent increase over Exxon’s existing rates of $3.78 per barrel to shi...
Alaska’s oil and gas director has denied Cook Inlet Energy LLC’s application to form the Otter oil and gas unit. Otter is an onshore natural gas prospect on the inlet’s west side, about nine miles north of the Beluga River gas field and five miles west of the Lewis River gas field. Cook Inlet Energy in January applied to unitize portions of four state oil and gas leases. The unit would have encompassed 5,855 acres. Part of the acreage is within the Susitna Flats State Game Refuge. The company said approval of the unit would extend two expir...
ConocoPhillips’ Alpine oil field and its satellite fields in the Colville River unit, to the west of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River fields, has over the years become a significant success story in the annals of North Slope oil production. Having first gone into production in 2000, the original field has proved a stepping out point for neighboring modest-sized oil accumulations and is now set to provide an infrastructure link to the first oil development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. According to data from the Alaska Oil and G...
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said May 29 that it will establish an independent body for research and shared learning for offshore energy exploration and development. BSEE, a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, said it is taking steps to establish an independent Ocean Energy Safety Institute to promote safe and responsible operations across the offshore oil and gas industry. “The Institute will help federal regulators keep pace with new processes employed by the industry as they move into deeper water and deeper ge...
Alaska is particularly sensitive to spikes in fuel prices due to its unique relationship with transportation services, a new university study says. “Although Alaska has a low absolute energy demand compared with the U.S. average, its per capita energy consumption is the highest in the country — more than three times the U.S. average,” the study says. “A number of factors contribute to the state’s higher per capita energy consumption. Alaska’s role as a major world air cargo and transportation hub, oil producer, and marginal refiner substantial...
Hilcorp Alaska is in the process of reactivating the Baker platform in Cook Inlet, with gas production back online and planning under way to bring oil production back online. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said in a May 28 area injection order that Hilcorp intends to utilize two wells on the platform for injection “which consists of pre-charging the reservoir for the planned return of oil production from the Baker platform.” Hilcorp Alaska spokeswoman Lori Nelson told Petroleum News in a May 30 email that reactivation of the...
The Alaska Oil and Gas Association, or AOGA, an oil industry trade association, has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s listing in December of the bearded seal as threatened under the terms of the Endangered Species Act. The listing decision was based on the assumption that the declining extent of Arctic sea ice under the impact of global warning will place the seal’s future in jeopardy, because of the animals’ dependence on the sea ice habitat. The agency’s action came as part of a growing...
In an order issued May 28 the federal District Court in Alaska has in part upheld an appeal by three environmental organizations and a Native tribal organization against the incidental harassment authorization, or IHA, that the National Marine Fisheries Service issued for Apache Alaska Corp.’s offshore seismic survey, conducted in 2012 in Cook Inlet. Given that the IHA in question has already expired, District Court Judge Sharon Gleason has given the parties in the case 21 days to either jointly or separately propose what action should result f...
Furie Operating Alaska has completed the drilling of its Kitchen Lights Unit No. 3 well in Alaska’s Cook Inlet and is proceeding to case and test the well, Damon Kade, the company’s president, told Petroleum News May 24. “We’ve finished drilling and we’re moving to the subsea phase of the operation,” Kade said, adding that Furie is keeping the results of the drilling confidential for the time being. The well, targeting natural gas, reached a depth of around 10,000 feet, he said. Furie is exploring for oil and gas in the offshore Kitchen Lig...
Arctic Slope Regional Corp. said May 22 that shortly after sunrise on May 20 in Nepal, its director of communications, Ty Hardt, successfully summit Mount Everest. In late March Hardt began his expedition, determined to climb the tallest mountain on Earth at an elevation of 29,035 feet. Identifying a need for the children of the North Slope, Ty Hardt is using the climb to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Barrow. “This has been long awaited and anxiously anticipated. We are so thankful for this part of the journey, and are awaiting h...
Calista Heritage Foundation said May 23 that Ariel Tweto and Stephen Qucung Blanchett will emcee the 14th Annual Calista Heritage Foundation Golf Tournament on June 19 at the Moose Run Hill Golf Course in Arctic Valley. These two lively entertainers will bring the golf classic’s Mardi Gras theme to life. With active participation from businesses and organizations this tournament is the main source of contributions for CHF’s scholarship program. Stephen Qacung Blanchett grew up in the Yup’ik community of Bethel, Alaska. He is one of the found...
Baker Hughes Inc. said May 28 that Mike Sumruld has been named vice president and treasurer. “Mike brings more than 20 years of diversified financial expertise, international experience and a record of solid performance within Baker Hughes to his new role as treasurer,” said Peter Ragauss, Baker Hughes senior vice president and chief financial officer. “We believe this depth of experience will enable him to interact very effectively with our external stakeholders.” Sumruld started his career at Baker Hughes in 1998 and worked most recentl...
The 63rd Montana legislative session adjourned on April 24 having dealt with literally scores of oil and gas-related bills since the session convened on Jan. 7, passing some but killing many others. And of the oil and gas-related bills that did pass, several were ultimately vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock. Some of those vetoed bills, however, passed by large enough majorities that legislators are automatically being polled on veto overrides. That polling continues until June 10. To put this all into perspective, Montana Petroleum Association...
Coincidence or not, growing volumes of crude being moved by rail across North America are being accompanied by an increasing number of derailments, making rail Public Enemy No. 2 after pipelines. The latest incident involved five cars in a Canadian Pacific Railway, CPR, train that left the tracks in Saskatchewan May 20, leaking an estimated 575 barrels of Western Canadian crude (originating from conventional fields, not the oil sands). CPR said it dug a berm in the rural area to contain and help clean up the spill, which was the third in North...
DeeThree Exploration President Martin Cheyne delivered a bold message to the company’s annual meeting entitled “Believe it.” Backed by an increase in production to 7,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (75 percent oil) from 400 boe per day three years ago, with several wells now on production, he figured it was time to proclaim the success of what many had once doubted. And more growth is in store from DeeThree’s two light oil plays — the Exshaw formation, which the company labels the “Southern Alberta Bakken,” near Lethbridge in southern A...
