CIRI shuts down land department
James Musselman, president and CEO of Caelus Energy LLC, the company that is buying Pioneer Natural Resources’ Alaska properties, said today that his company plans to start work “pretty much immediately” on the development of Nuna, an as-yet undeveloped oil pool under the nearshore waters of the Beaufort Sea in the Oooguruk unit. Pioneer has been conducting appraisal drilling in the Nuna reservoir, but had not yet sanctioned development.
Pioneer has estimated the Nuna reservoir, in the relatively shallow Torok formation, to hold about 50 million barrels of oil.
Musselman, talking during a press availability in Anchorage, said that his company will spend $300 million on its newly acquired Alaska assets, and that it hopes to raise in excess of $1 billion in equity and debt to invest in Alaska, potentially spending $1.5 billion in the state over the next five to six years.
In addition to development work in the Oooguruk field, the prime asset that Caelus is purchasing from Pioneer, Caelus sees significant new exploration potential in Alaska, Musselman said.
—Alan Bailey
See more in Nov. 3 issue, available online at 11 a.m., Friday, Nov. 1 at www.PetroleumNews.com
BP term price down 12 percent for January
BP defers Point Thomson wells
BP America?s January 1998 term price for Alaska North Slope crude is $16.41 a barrel, down $1.91, a 11.64 percent drop, from BP?s December term price of $18.32 a barrel. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. spokesman Paul Laird noted that this is the lowest term price BP has posted for ANS crude since December 1996. BP?s term price was $15.88 a barrel for December 1996.
The Alaska Department of Revenue?s division of oil and gas audit said last week that it has lowered its fiscal year 1998 year-end price projection to $17.59 a barrel, an additional 47 cent a barrel decrease from a Dec. 1 market update and a cumulative 52 cent a barrel reduction from the division?s fall estimate of $18.11 a barrel for fiscal year 1998.
The division credited ?ample crude stocks, increased OPEC production and the concern about the re-entry of Iraq crude into the world market? as factors contributing to suppressed oil prices.
BP?s January 1997 term price was $23.50 a barrel. The term price averaged $19.57 a barrel for 1997, down 1.46 percent from the 1996 average of $19.86 a barrel.
BP is the largest producer of ANS crude and the only North Slope producer to post term prices.
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