BLM NPR-A sale date Dec. 11
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Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The federal Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska State Office will hold its 2019 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska oil and gas lease sale Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. Sealed bids for the 350-tract sale are due by 4 p.m. Dec. 9.
BLM said in a Nov. 5 Federal Register notice that the 350 tracts in the sale contain some 3.98 million acres.
The detailed statement of sale is available at the BLM Alaska website at www.blm.gov/alaska/lease-sales.
Opening and reading of the bids will be available via video livestreaming at www.blm.gov/live.
“This is one of several actions we are taking to further expand energy development in Alaska,” said BLM Alaska State Director Chad Padgett in a Nov. 5 statement. “We are working on a new Integrated Activity Plan for the NPR-A. With advancements in drilling technology, it was prudent to develop a new plan that provides for greater economic development of our resources while still providing protections for important resources, such as subsistence uses.”
BLM said there are currently 215 active leases in NPR-A, covering more than 1.5 million acres. The December sale will be the 15th in NPR-A since recent sales began in 1999; bids received for the 14 pervious sales generated more than $283 million, half of which went to the state of Alaska.
High potential tracts in the upcoming sale (5,760 acres) have a minimum bid of $25 per acre, a fixed royalty rate of 16 2/3% and a rental rate of $10 per acre. Low potential tracts (11,500 acres) have a minimum bid of $5 per acre, a fixed royalty rate of 12 1/2% and a rental rate of $3 per acre.
Previous sales Prior to 1999, there were four oil and gas lease sales in NPR-A between 1982 and 1984, with 1.4 million acres leased but only one well drilled. By 1999, there were no remaining leases, but interest in the area was growing as ARCO Alaska (now ConocoPhillips) developed the Alpine field just to the east of NPR-A.
The 1999 sale drew considerable interest. There were 431 tracts offered, 3.9 million acres, and BLM received bids on 133 tracts, 867,721 acres, with a total of $104.6 million in total bids.
The next sale, in 2002, garnered bids of $63.8 million on 60 tracts, 579,269 acres.
There was high interest in the next three sales - held in 2004, 2006 and 2008 - with bids on 123 tracts ($53.9 million) in 2004, on 80 tracts in 2006 ($13.8 million) and 80 tracts in 2008 ($16.3 million).
Bidding gradually dropped off, although the 2016 sale (the sales became annual beginning in 2010) drew 67 bids ($18.8 million).
The most recent sales, in 2017 and 2018, drew bids on seven and 16 tracts, respectively, and bid amounts of $1.2 million and $1.5 million.
The first production from federal lands in NPR-A began in October 2018 from ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Greater Mooses Tooth unit. That company’s predecessor, Phillips Alaska, announced the first NPR-A discoveries from the current leasing program in May 2001. The most recent NPR-A discovery news came when ConocoPhillips announced its Willow find in January 2017 after exploration wells were drilled in the company’s NPR-A Bear Tooth unit in 2016.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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