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Apache leases expire in Cook Inlet Hilcorp also loses leases to expirations in May; state approves other transactions in the Cook Inlet and on the North Slope Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
A group of 24 Apache Alaska Corp. leases in Cook Inlet expired at the end of their primary term at the end of May. The leases are scattered across the entirety of the basin.
ADL 391256, ADL 391257 and ADL 391259 were a contiguous group of leases on the west side of Cook Inlet, just inland from NordAq Energy’s proposed Tiger Eye unit. The leases included Shell’s Kustatan River No. 1 and PanAm’s Bachatna Creek No. 1. ADL 391252 and ADL 391253 were to the south of those leases, straddling the mouth of Drift River, and containing the Drift River terminal and the associated Cook Inlet Pipeline Co. pipeline. Apache continues to hold numerous leases contiguous to the five expired leases.
ADL 391243, ADL 391246, ADL 391247, ADL 391250 and ADL 391251 were part of a large block of Apache leases offshore of the east side of Cook Inlet. (ADL 391246 included the onshore pad for many directional wells in the Kasilof unit, which is surrounded by the Apache block.) ADL 391249 was an irregularly shaped lease in the vicinity of the larger block.
ADL 391260 and ADL 391261 were offshore leases between the Southern Cross unit and the coastline near the A. Kaloa gas field. The former is the location Socal’s N. Trading Bay 23-7 while the latter was the location of Mobil’s Tower No. 2. ADL 391266 is a lease along the coastline where several pipelines from offshore pipeline connect to land.
ADL 391258 is a small, isolated lease to the southwest and the location of the Middle R St. No. 1 well. ADL 391263 is to the west, along CIGGS and a Hilcorp gas pipeline.
ADL 391271 hugged the northern boundary of the ConocoPhillips-operate Beluga River unit. Apache retains two other leases between the Beluga River and Pretty Creek units.
ADL 391272, ADL 391274, ADL 391275 were scattered among a large block of leases Apache still holds in the Susitna Flats State Game Refuge, near the Susitna River.
ADL 391273 was on the west side of the Cook Inlet, northwest of the Lewis River unit.
ADL 391276 was an onshore lease in the northern end of the basin, west of Wasilla and south of Houston. The lease is near the location of numerous previous exploration wells.
ADL 391280 and ADL 391281 are offshore leases along the coast of the southern Kenai Peninsula near Anchor Point. The leases are just north of the Buccaneer-operated Cosmopolitan unit. Apache retains numerous leases in the vicinity of those two leases.
Hilcorp, Aurora expirations A group of seven Hilcorp Alaska leases expired at the end of May.
ADL 391238, ADL 391239, ADL 391240, ADL 391241, ADL 391245 and ADL 391277 were primarily offshore leases ringing the Hilcorp-operated Ninilchik unit, between Ninilchik and Clam Gulch. Hilcorp is permitting an oil exploration program at the unit. The seventh lease, ADL 391248, is located farther to the north, east of the Kenai unit.
A single Aurora Gas lease, ADL 391264, expired at the end of May. The lease was north of the Aurora-operated Nikolai Creek unit and contains Mobil’s W. Tyonek No. 1 well.
Other Cook Inlet transactions The state denied a request from Buccaneer Cosmopolitan LLC to transfer small royalty interests in three leases around the Cosmopolitan to a variety of affiliated companies.
The state has an assignment case file from the “Marian Ortman Ecclestone Trust Dated 9/23/1999” to transfer in a lease at the ConocoPhillips-operated Beluga River unit to John F. Ortman. The state also has an assignment case file from “The Newton and Roberta Neustadter Trust” to transfer a small royalty interests on leases in and around the Nikolaevsk unit to the “Trust B U/A The Newton and Roberta Neustadter Trust.”
North Slope transactions The state approved the transfer of a 7.5 percent working interest and a less than 2 percent royalty interest in 11 leases operated by 70 & 148 LLC to GMT Exploration Co. LLC.
In June, the state approved the expansion of the Nuiqsut participating area at the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk unit, retroactive to December 2011.
The state terminated two J. Andrew Bachner leases south of the Badami unit for failure to pay rent. The leases would have expired at the end of their primary terms in May 2014.
—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.
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