Alaska's source for oil and gas news
Alaska's source for oil and gas news
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ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. plans to reduce Kuparuk River unit drilling work this year. The local subsidiary of the large international independent plans to drill approximately four new rotary wells and 16 coiled tubing drilling sidetracks at the main Kuparuk oil field this year, according to a recent plan of development. The company drilled eight new rotary wells and 20 coiled tubing drilling sidetracks at the Kuparuk field in 2016 and drilled seven new rotary wells and 20 coiled tubing drilling sidetracks at the field in 2015. And the company...
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska began a three-week hearing June 5 on Enstar Natural Gas Co.’s proposed tariff. A transcript from the first day of the hearing contained overviews from Enstar and other parties to the proceedings as they laid out in opening statements the case for and against increases in rates for moving natural gas. Enstar is the natural gas local distribution company for Southcentral Alaska and also provides bulk transmission services for other utilities and large customers: all are impacted by the new tariff proposals. The...
Without further development, a pair of Cook Inlet fields operated by Aurora Gas LLC will become uneconomic within the next three years, according to company estimates. In a pair of revised plans of development submitted to state authorities in early June, the Alaska-based independent said that the Three Mile Creek field would become uneconomic in early 2018 and the Nicolai Creek unit would become uneconomic in late 2020 or early 2021 unless Aurora or another owner undertakes new development work. Aurora expressed interest in undertaking the...
The state has approved an amended development plan for the Kitchen Lights unit that could lead to an exploration well into the Jurassic at the offshore Cook Inlet unit. The amended plan of development calls for operator Furie Operating Alaska LLC to drill either the Kitchen Lights Unit No. 4 or Kitchen Lights Unit No. 6-Deep Jurassic well by the end of the year. The amendment keeps an earlier provision, requiring the company to complete the Kitchen Lights Unit No. A1 well in the Corsair block by Nov. 30. The original plan of development that...
Gov. Bill Walker added House Bill 111, the oil and gas credit and tax bill, to his special session call June 22, but as this issue of Petroleum News went to print there had been no legislative action. The bill passed both House and Senate, but the versions are very different and are in conference committee. The primary item on the call, the state’s operating budget, passed both houses of the Legislature earlier June 22. “I thank legislators for reaching a compromise on the operating budget to ensure government services continue after July 1,...
With U.S. exports of oil and natural gas surging, President Donald Trump says the U.S. is on the brink of becoming a net exporter of oil, gas and other resources. The White House is launching its “energy week” with a series of events focused on jobs and boosting U.S. global influence. The events follow similar policy-themed weeks on infrastructure and jobs. The previous weeks were largely overshadowed by ongoing probes into whether Trump campaign officials colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election, as well as scrutiny over Trump’s fir...
The United States Government Accountability Office released a report in June evaluating the impact of increasing federal royalty rates on onshore oil, gas and coal production. For fiscal year 2016, GAO said, federal revenues were some $2.5 billion from production on federal lands onshore of oil, gas and coal, with some $2 billion of that amount from royalties. The agency reviewed numerous studies and did an in-depth review of four by the Congressional Budget Office, the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President, a st...
The Trump administration is delaying two Obama-era regulations aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production. The Environmental Protection Agency said it is seeking a two-year delay for oil and gas companies to follow a new rule requiring them to monitor and reduce methane leaks from their facilities. The delay follows a 90-day pause ordered earlier this year. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the agency is reconsidering the 2016 rule, which he said may duplicate state rules that can achieve equivalent or better...
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conversation Commission has issued two more drilling permits for Hilcorp Alaska LLC to develop the proposed Pearl project at the Ninilchik unit. On June 20, the AOGCC issued permits for the Pearl No. 3 and Pearl No. 6 stratigraphic test wells on private leases located near the boundary of the coastal Cook Inlet unit. In recent permitting documents, Hilcorp announced plans to build the new Pearl pad to support a one-well program on a lease just beyond the southern boundary of the unit. The proposed pad would target an...
In late February President Donald Trump ordered a review of the new waters of the United States, WOTUS, definition implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 under the Obama administration. In late June EPA began the official process of re-codifying the WOTUS definition as it was prior to 2015, and as it has been administered under the Clean Water Act following a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which in October 2015 stayed the new definition. EPA is proposing to reinstitute the old definition as it...
The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose by eight the week ending June 23 to 941. A year ago, just 421 rigs were active. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes said 758 rigs targeted oil (up 11 from the previous week) and 183 targeted natural gas (down three). Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Oklahoma added five rigs, North Dakota increased by three rigs, Louisiana gained two and California and Colorado were up one each. Alaska declined by two while New Mexico and Utah declined by one apiece....
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said June 28 that it proposes to issue three underground injection control class I permits for disposal of non-hazardous fluids at Badami, Oooguruk and Prudhoe Bay. All are renewals of exiting permits. Applicants are Savant Alaska LLC, a subsidiary of Glacier Oil & Gas Corp., Caelus Natural Resources Alaska LLC and BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. EPA has responsibility in Alaska for regulation of class I injection wells, which dispose of fluids into deep, naturally saline aquifers below any aquifers which...
Leading international oilfield services company Expro has secured a $10 million well services contract extension with Apache North Sea. The contract covers a range of well services including slickline, cased hole services and pumping services, as well as support in delivering coiled tubing services. Expro has worked with Apache since 2004 and after securing the initial well services contract in 2009, has now been awarded two further one-year extensions extending to 2019. “Our 40 years of experience mean that we are ideally placed to support t...
The Chamber of Shipping of America has recognized 65 vessels of Foss Maritime and their subsidiary companies with the 2016 Jones F. Devlin award for outstanding safety records. The Jones F. Devlin Award is one of two award programs CSA has sponsored since 1968. The award is given to self-propelled merchant vessels that have operated for two full years or more without a crewmember involved in a lost-time incident. It publicly recognizes the skill and dedication of the men and women who are responsible for safe vessel operations. The 65 Foss...
The final of three state-of-the-art Arctic class tugs, the Nicole Foss, was christened in June at the Foss Waterway Seaport in Tacoma, Washington. Built at the Foss Rainier, Oregon, shipyard, the Nicole is designed to operate in the extreme conditions of the far north, and will enter service this summer. “It made me think of what has been accomplished at the Rainier Shipyard and the care that goes into each and every vessel. The craftsman of the men and women at Rainier rivals the best yards in the world, and these vessels reflect their d...
If this year’s US$8 million drill program is any indication, Barrick Gold Corp. and Novagold Resources Inc. are getting serious about building “the largest pure gold mine in the world” at their Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska. “Donlin Gold’s size, grade, production profile, exploration potential, mine life, community support and jurisdictional safety render it a unique asset in the gold industry,” said Novagold President and CEO Greg Lang. “Both partners envision Donlin Gold to be a pacesetter in the mining sector and are completely al...
IDM Mining Ltd. June 26 said the results of a feasibility study for its Red Mountain confirms the positive economics for developing a high-grade underground gold mine at this gold project near Stewart in northwestern British Columbia. The proposed 1,000-metric-ton-per-day year-round operation is expected to average roughly 78,000 ounces of gold per year over the nearly six year mine-life considered in the feasibility study. Initial capital expenditure to fund construction and commissioning is estimated at C$135.7 million, with a life-of-mine...
Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. June 26 reported a roughly 10 percent increase in the measured and indicated resources at its Wellgreen nickel-platinum group metal-copper project in southwestern Yukon. Since the publication of a resource estimate in 2014, an additional 74 holes have been completed at Wellgreen. Incorporating the results from this work, Wellgreen now hosts 362 million metric tons of measured and indicated resource averaging 0.26 percent (2.08 billion pounds) nickel; 0.14 percent (1.09 billion lb) copper; 0.015 percent (121 million lb)...
Freegold Ventures Ltd. has released results from an additional 10 holes of its 27-hole oxide resource expansion drill program at the Golden Summit project about 25 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. On June 27, the company reported that hole GSDL 17-16 cut 69 meters averaging 1.14 grams per metric ton gold. The oxide portion of this this intercept was 54 meters, starting at a depth of 1.5 meters. GSDL 17-17 and GSDL 17-18, the two northernmost holes drilled during the program, both cut gold mineralization. Hole 18 cut 64.5 meters of 0.51 g/t gol...
The summer solstice has come and gone, but the Alaska mining industry has paid little attention to the decreased amount of daylight because it is high summer in the high latitudes, time to be out completing work programs that have been in the planning since last fall. Exploration drilling programs have sprouted in the Brooks Range, Interior, Alaska Range, Southeast, Southwest and the Alaska Peninsula. In addition, the sounds of tire-kicking are being heard over a wide area of the state with most of the interest focused on gold, silver, copper,...
Benz Mining Corp. June 21 said it plans to complete up to 8,000 meters of drilling this year at its Mel zinc-lead-barite property in southeastern Yukon. The primary objective of this program is to confirm and expand a resource estimate calculated for Mel in March. According to this estimate, the main zone at Mel hosts 5.28 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 6.51 percent zinc, 1.86 percent lead and 45 percent barite. “The main goals are to confirm the continuity of grades and widths of mineralization within the Mel Main zone a...
Group Ten Metals Inc. June 22 said it has begun 2017 exploration at its nickel-copper-platinum group elements properties in southwestern Yukon. This work, which is expected to be carried out in July, includes mapping, prospecting and surface sampling at the Ultra, Spy and Catalyst projects. The work at Spy, which is roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) the Wellgreen nickel-PGE-copper project, will focus primarily on defining the orientation of the Spy ultramafic sill and sighting optimal locations for a potential drill program later this year. The...
Silver Range Resources Ltd. June 22 provided an update on work at its South Kitikmeot gold project, which includes seven properties between Sabina Gold & Silver's Back River Project west to the historical Lupin Mine in Nunavut. In May, Silver Range completed ground geophysical surveys over the Billie and Holliday Zones at the Uist property. These zones were identified by Silver Range in 2016, where surface samples returned grades as high as 64 grams per metric ton gold. A magnetic survey mapped an iron formation on the property and a...
