The state's newest oil and gas player, Oil Search, officially took over Armstrong Energy's Alaska's headquarters in Anchorage on April 1, per Keiran Wulff, the company's top Alaska executive, and has leased additional space in preparation for hiring 110 people versus its original plan to bring on 50 new employees.
The ASX-listed publicly traded company with offices in Sydney, Australia, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, still hopes to drill at the southern end of the North Slope Pikka unit next winter, providing it can obtain all the necessary permits and approvals, Wulff told PN March 29.
The company continues to conduct interviews in Anchorage, looking for engineers, geologists and other professionals with experience on the North Slope.
Oil Search secured Armstrong and its minority partner's interests at the North Slope Pikka and Horseshoe leases in late October. Per the March 25 issue of Petroleum News, Oil Search received its final regulatory approval connected to acquiring a controlling interest in the leases on March 15, the final step in assuming operatorship of the leases and the first Nanushuk discovery development in the norther part of the Pikka unit.
In addition to taking over Armstrong's Suite 301 in Peterson Towers, Oil Search leased an adjoining suite and per Wulff, "may also take some space on the second floor."
- KAY CASHMAN
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