The Oil Patch Insider

Sullivan back in Alaska as VP of finance for Nabors

When Parker left Alaska in 1998, so did Sullivan, to handle investor relations for the firm in Tulsa, Okla.

Then, when Parker Drilling recently decided to move the position from Tulsa to Houston, Sullivan stayed behind to become a mortgage banker with the Royal Bank of Canada.

His new position? Vice president of finance with Nabors Alaska Drilling, where he’ll report to President Jim Denney.

Sullivan says he is thrilled to be back in Alaska and honored to be working with the top-notch team — and in the highly-focused culture — at Nabors. “Even though we were competitors before, we always had a good relationship,” he said.

Sullivan is already on board in the Anchorage office. His wife Joy, who taught English at Goldenview Middle School when they lived in Anchorage from 1991 to 1998, is selling the Tulsa homestead, and hopes to follow soon with their two labs, cat and fish.

Their grown daughters both chose Baylor University for their forensics majors. Lindsey graduated and was married in June, and Lacey, a junior this fall, plans to become a vet and get involved with the Iditarod.

Gas, bitumen producers at loggerheads in Alberta

Energy Minister Murray Smith will hold a July 31 meeting of natural gas and bitumen producers, now that the province’s Energy and Utilities Board has set a Sept. 1 deadline to shut in as many as 938 gas wells to protect reservoir pressures and 100 billion barrels of untapped oil sands deposits.

Although the regulator has softened its earlier hard-line stand and agreed to consider exemptions where the gas wells do not override bitumen deposits, there is still the prospect of 250,000 million cubic feet per day of production and 1 trillion cubic feet of reserves being indefinitely removed from the market.

The board’s actions have enraged 11 gas producers, who have accused the Energy and Utilities Board of not following due process and have demanded compensation from the government — some say as much as C$2 billion, others suggest about C$500 million.

Smith, after several weeks of leaving the regulator to arrive at a decision, said July 23 that if the shut-in order applies to gas wells “that were sold in good faith by the province, then we will begin addressing the issue of equity and financial loss.”There is already a precedent on the table, following an earlier board decision to shut in 146 gas wells and up to 180 billion cubic feet of reserves, which were deemed to be of less value than 5.5 billion barrels of bitumen in the same area. The government subsequently awarded those seven gas producers C$85 million in royalty breaks — a decision Smith said could be a template for future resolutions.

Noting that the board has already “trimmed back” its initial blanket order, he said that the Sept. 1 shut-in will likely involve significantly less than 938 wells.

Petro-Canada, the most outspoken of the bitumen owners, who include Imperial Oil, Nexen, and ConocoPhillips Canada, will attend the July 31 meeting and tell the government it “doesn’t think compensation is warranted.”

All of which suggests the rift within the industry will take even longer to heal.

Environmentalists to hold oil and gas summit

The “2003 People’s Oil & Gas Summit” will be sponsored by Cook Inlet Keeper of Homer, Alaska, and the Oil & Gas Accountability Project of Durango, Colo. Meeting rooms have been tentatively booked at the Best Western Lake Lucille Lodge in Wasilla.

Workshops, panels and discussions will address coalbed methane development in and outside Alaska; oil, gas and produced water disposal issues; landowner property and water rights and negotiating with oil and gas companies; Alaska gas pipeline proposals; energy usage and efficiencies; and national energy policy.

Cook Inlet Keeper is a petroleum industry watchdog group formed in 1995 by Trustees for Alaska, Greenpeace and the Alaska Center for the Environment.

The Oil &Gas Accountability Project works with communities “to prevent and reduce the social, economic and environmental impacts caused by oil and gas development.” It provides technical, legal and organizational strategies to groups such as Cook Inlet Keeper. For reservations call (907) 276-4244.

Oil Patch Insider is compiled by Paula Easley and Kay Cashman with news coming from a variety of sources, including news tips and press releases from readers, Petroleum News writers in Anchorage, Calgary, Fairbanks, Houston, Washington, D.C. and Juneau also supply news leads and briefs. If you have a news tip or press release for Oil Patch Insider, please email [email protected], phone (907) 245-2297, or fax (907) 522-9583.