A joint venture exploring the North Slope is postponing its exploration plans for this winter until it can resolve a legal dispute between two partners in the program.
Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., operator of the multi-year exploration program on behalf of several smaller companies, said this morning it will delay the program one year.
“BRPC has decided to defer its planned exploration activity this winter to the 2010 winter season,” the company said in a statement. “BRPC is in litigation with one of its partners and the issues in the litigation need to be resolved prior to commencing its planned exploration activity and such issues cannot be resolved in time for the 2009 winter season.”
However, the company said it “anticipates an active 2010 winter exploration season” and “plans to proceed with permitting, rezoning, and unitizing the proposed North Shore Development Project in the Gwydyr Bay area.”
The joint venture is the process of permitting three prospects in Gwydyr Bay, a coastal area north of the Prudhoe Bay unit where the companies have drilled in recent winters.
The legal dispute began late last year after TG World Energy Corp., one of the companies involved in the joint venture, decided to postpone its involvement in “drilling and development programs” this winter, citing global financial uncertainty and low oil prices.
See full story in the Feb. 8 issue of Petroleum News, which will be online at noon Friday, Feb. 6, at www.petroleumnews.com.
