Clean Seas adds associate membership

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief

Alaska Clean Seas, the North Slope oil spill response cooperative, has added a new category of membership.

Brad Hahn, the co-ops’ president and general manager, told Petroleum News Oct. 23 that, effective earlier in October, the organization now has two classes of memberships: producing members and non-producing members.

There are seven existing Alaska Clean Seas members. Three are not producers, but are considered ‘heritage members’ because they joined before the organization changed its bylaws, paid the higher fee to join, pay the higher annual fee required of members who are producing oil and gas resources, and have seats on the organization’s board.

Producing members, and the heritage members, each paid $500,000 to join the cooperative, pay $50,000 a year in membership fees and pay additional fees based on production rates.

The new, non-producing members, will pay $100,000 to join, an annual fee of $15,000 a year, plus additional, per-day fees for drilling services. Hahn said the daily fee will start when explorers spud a well and will continue through until they finish testing. It will not be charged, he said, while the non-producing members are building ice roads and pads and getting ready to drill.

Hahn said Alaska Clean Seas established the new, non-producing member category because members want to try to lower any barriers to bringing up any other companies to invest in oil and gas exploration and hopefully in future production.

While the non-producing membership provides a lower entry fee for companies engaged in exploration work, once those companies become producers they would have to become producing members.

Hahn said Alaska Clean Seas has met with the Alaska Venture Capital Group, is talking with Total about this winter and will also be talking to Armstrong.