Bumper lease sale
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North Slope sale attracts most bids and acreage leased for over a dec-ade
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
Alaska's Division of Oil and Gas has published the results of its recent North Slope regional oil and gas lease sale. On multiple counts this turned out to be the most successful sale for more than a decade.
(See map in the online issue PDF)
The sale of a total of 287 lease tracts achieved the highest number sold since 2014, resulting in the leasing of more than 519,000 acres, the most acreage since that same year, the di-vision said.
The bids drew a total of $17.5 million in cash bonuses, the highest amount since the 2018 sale.
And the total revenues from the sale were the highest in 27 years of lease sales.
"This is one of the most successful North Slope lease sales we've seen in years, and it reinforces a simple truth: Alaska is open for business," said Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy
"From new Alaska-based explorers to long-established global producers, companies are stepping up because they recognize the tremendous op-portunities our state offers. The Trump administration's commitment to responsible resource development is helping unlock those opportunities," said Dunleavy
"The North Slope renaissance con-tinues to build momentum," said DNR Acting Commissioner John Crowther. "Over the last decade we've seen significant exploration, major new discoveries, and more and more acres under lease -- and today pro-jects with significant new production are on the verge of coming online. Now we have a record-setting lease sale at the same time we're heading into one of the busiest construction seasons on the Slope in years. The future is bright."
As is normal, the sale was split into three areas: the North Slope, which covers most of the central North Slope region; the North Slope Foot-hills region to the south; and the Beaufort Sea region covering near-shore state waters of the Beaufort Sea to the north.
Maps of the areas and the locations of the tracts that were bid on can be found on the division's website.
North Slope area Nine businesses bid for leases in the North Slope area, making a total of 273 bids on 271 tracts, the highest number of tracts since sales began in 1998.
There was an estimated high bonus bid total of about $16.9 million on the 271 tracts that were sold.
Surprise Valley Resources LLC was the largest bidder, winning bids on 116 tracts for a total of nearly $7.997 million in two blocks of tracts: one block east of the Haul Road, about 50 miles south of Deadhorse, and a smaller block off the southwest cor-ner of the Kuparuk River unit.
Repsol E&P USA LLC, a partner in the development of the Pikka oil field, won 45 tracts for a total of $2.516 million. The tracts occupy two large areas of land south of the Kuparuk River unit.
Oil Search, the company that merged with Santos Ltd, the operator of the Pikka oil field, won 18 tracts for a to-tal of $2.324 million, four of them south of the Quokka unit in the west-ern part of the area, and 12 in a block of land adjacent to the eastern border of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, immediately south of the Horseshoe unit.
Burgundy Exploration LLC won 57 tracts for a total of $2.052 million in two blocks west of the Haul Road in the southern part of the area.
Three Mountain Oil LLC won one tract for $6,970 adjacent to the east-ern border of the NPR-A, south of the Colville River unit.
The area saw two new entrants to the bidding: Duncan Resources LLC and Frontier Exploration LLC. Duncan Resources won three tracts for a total of $256,000 immediately southwest of Deadhorse. Frontier Exploration won three tracts for a total of $151,574 immediately west of the Haul Road, on the north side of the Alkaid unit.
Foothills and Beaufort Sea The North Slope Foothills area saw bids from AK Frontier Energy LLC, also a company new to Alaska. The company won seven tracts for a total of $200,582, four immediately east of the Haul Road at the northern edge of the area, and three further west, about halfway between the Haul Road and Umiat.
Veteran bidder Samuel Cade suc-cessfully bid on nine tracts for a total of $364,346 in the eastern part of the Beaufort Sea region. The tracts are continuous with the Greater Point Thomson unit, with working interest owners Daniel Donkel and Samuel Cade and approved by the Division of Oil and Gas in June. The unit is adja-cent the Hilcorp-operated Point Thomson unit.
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