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Details on Oct. 29 lease sales issued State of Alaska says no supplement to best interest finding needed Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, issued sales announcements July 29 for the North Slope and Beaufort Sea areawide oil and gas lease sales scheduled for Oct. 29. A sale announcement contains details about a sale, including what acreage will be offered, which acreage will be deferred and whether or not additional resource information is needed prior to holding a sale.
In its July 29 announcements the division said that while it received comments on both sales, there was “no substantial new information that justified a supplement to the best interest finding” for either sale. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game told the division it had no new information for the sale re-offerings. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “submitted lengthy comments” on both sales, “including new information on polar bears and waterfowl.” But U.S. Fish and Wildlife “did not request a supplemental finding” for either sale, the division said, “and the commissioner (of the Department of Natural Resources) finds that the new polar bear information is not substantial enough to justify a supplement to the best interest finding.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife requested a number of revisions to mitigation measures for both upcoming sales. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game requested one revision to mitigation measures for the North Slope areawide sale. The division said the findings are not being supplemented, so “the mitigation measures will not be reviewed or revised,” except for technical changes related to the move of many functions of the Division of Habitat and Restoration from Fish and Game to the Department of Natural Resources.
The best interest findings are good for 10 years. The North Slope areawide finding was done in 1997, the best interest finding for the Beaufort Sea sales in 1999. New polar bear studies The division said U.S. Fish and Wildlife information on polar bears from recent studies included: recent aerial surveys along the coast and barrier islands between Harrison Bay and Barter island which “supported the importance of barrier islands for polar bear denning habitat;” a U.S. Minerals Management Service sponsored study on demography and behavior of polar bears feeding on subsistence harvested bowhead whale carcasses at Cross Island and Barter Island; a study testing forward-looking infrared technology to detect maternal polar bear dens in northern Alaska; and a test which indicated that scent-trained dogs may be a viable way to verify occupancy of suspected dens, rather than waiting for bears to emerge.
The division said U.S. Fish and Wildlife also provided information on recent migratory waterfowl studies indicating a possible long-term population downturn of certain migratory waterfowl, and indicating the importance of Beaufort Sea barrier island-lagoon systems as wildlife habitats for breeding and molting waterfowl.
“This information on polar bears and waterfowl may be useful to anyone planning operations on the North Slope or in the Beaufort Sea to help prevent potential disturbance to polar bears and waterfowl,” the division said. “However it is not substantial new information that would justify a supplement to the best interest finding.” Available tracts The Beaufort Sea sale covers approximately 2 million gross acres, 573 tracts. Leasing is deferred on all tracts from Point Barrow to Tangent Point (tracts 555, 557 through 573) and from Barter Island to the Canadian border (tracts 1 through 39). (See related story on page 1 of this issue.)
The North Slope sale covers approximately 5.1 million acres, 1,225 tracts.
The division said that only lands available on Aug. 5 may be leased in these sales. The Beaufort Sea sale is only state-owned land. The North Slope sale includes lands jointly owned by the state and the Arctic Slope Regional Corp.
The division deleted tract 1146 from the North Slope areawide sale because unleased acreage within the tract is not fully conveyed under the 119 state-Arctic Slope Regional Corp. settlement agreement. Tracts 925 and 936 may be deleted from the North Slope sale if acreage is not fully conveyed under the settlement agreement before the sale. Tract 1199 may be deleted from the North Slope sale because the oil and gas lease covering this tract is the subject of an administrative appeal which may not be resolved before the sale. Tract 987 may be deleted from the North Slope sale because it is the subject of a petition before the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and the petition may not be resolved before the sale. Beaufort announcement coming soon Robin Cacy, spokeswoman for the U.S. Minerals Management Service in Alaska, told Petroleum News July 30 that MMS expects to issue a sale announcement for its Beaufort Sea Sale 186 by mid-August.
That announcement will include, among other things, all final terms, the bidding system MMS will use for the sale and lease stipulations, she said.
It is still not certain, Cacy said, whether or not the McCovey prospect leases drilled by EnCana last year would be re-offered in that sale: “If they are relinquished in time they probably will be included; they’re in the process of doing the paperwork now.”
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