Both the State of Alaska and the federal government held northern Alaska oil and gas lease sales today.
The state drew more than $20 million in apparent high bids at back-to-back areawide lease sales this morning, $14 million at its North Slope areawide lease sale and $6.9 million at the Beaufort Sea areawide sale.
There were 220 bids on 179 tracts in the North Slope sale, with $14,094,812.47 in high bids and 335,289 acres sold.
Two newcomers bid in the sale, with Royale Energy taking 60 leases and Woodstone Resources taking nine.
Major bidders already established on the North Slope included ConocoPhillips (35 tracts), Great Bear Petroleum (32 tracts), Repsol E&P (25 tracts) and 70 & 148 LLC (11 tracts).
There were 89 bids on 78 tracts in the Beaufort Sea Sale, with $6,874,656.80 in apparent high bids and 281,095 acres sold.
A bidding partnership of Donkel and Cade took 35 tracts; Shell Offshore took 18; NordAq Energy took 11.
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management took in more than $3 million at its National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lease sale this afternoon, with 20 bids on 17 tracts, 141,739 acres, and a total of $3,069,638 in apparent high bids.
BLM attracted the same group of bidders — Woodstone Resources, 70 & 148 LLC and ConocoPhillips.
—Kristen Nelson
See story in Dec. 11 issue, available online at 11 a.m., Friday, Dec. 9, at www.PetroleumNews.com
