NordAq sells North Slope acreage

Armstrong’s 70 & 148 LLC takes remaining option on acreage shared with Repsol; Cook Inlet Energy leaves Susitna basin

ERIC LIDJI

For Petroleum News

A small independent company out of the United Kingdom has acquired a large block of North Slope leases from NordAq Energy Inc., according to recent state lease reports.

The state approved the transfer of 100 percent working interest and 87.5 percent royalty interest in 52 leases from NordAq to Golden Eagle Petroleum Ltd. on April 6, retroactive to March 1. The onshore leases are on the eastern North Slope, south of the Badami unit.

NordAq spent more than $2.3 million to acquire the 74,880-acre block of leases in a November 2013 state lease sale. The leases are currently set to expire on Feb. 29, 2024.

The block of leases is due east of acreage where Great Bear Petroleum Operating LLC and Royale Energy Inc. have separately expressed interests in unconventional resources.

To date, the only exploration activity to have occurred on the NordAq acreage is the W. Kavik Unit No. 1 well that Texaco Inc. plugged and abandoned in January 1970.

The United Kingdom-based Golden Eagle Petroleum was incorporated in December 2013 and received authority to operate in Alaska in April 2014. Judging from recent securities filings, the Alaska project appears to be among the first acquisitions for the company.

In 2015, NordAq sold a majority interest in a promising block of leases in the Smith Bay region to a subsidiary of Caelus Natural Resources Alaska Inc., which recently drilled two wells. With the recent sale, NordAq no longer operates State-owned leases on the North Slope but still operates 12 leases cover 138,000 acres in the federally managed National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Armstrong takes option

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources approved the transfer of a 6 percent working interest and 4.8 percent royalty interest in approximately 74 leases to 70 & 148.

The acquisition makes 70 & 148 the majority owner of the North Slope acreage.

As part of a realignment in October 2015 70 & 148 acquired an additional 30 percent interest in jointly held exploration acreage and an additional 15 percent interest in jointly held development acreage for $800 million. The deal gave 70 & 148 a 75 percent interest in the exploration acreage and a 45 percent interest in the development acreage, with an option to acquire an additional 6 percent interest to become the majority owner.

70 & 148 is currently in the early stages of planning and permitting the Nanushuk oil development in the fairway between the Kuparuk River unit and the Colville River unit.

Miller drops license

The company acquired the five-year license covering 45,764 acres in April 2012, as part of a larger exploration program in the region. The license included a $250,000 work commitment. Although the company began permitting a three-well exploration program across its various license areas in the Susitna basin, the program never came to fruition.

Cook Inlet Energy parent company Miller Energy Resources Ltd. recently emerged from bankruptcy with new owners Apollo Investment Corp. and Highbridge Capital Strategies.

Also in April, Cook Inlet Energy transferred 5.247382 percent working interest and 4.455861 percent royalty interest in two Point Thomson unit leases to operator ExxonMobil Alaska Production Inc. The transfer was part of the bankruptcy settlement.

Cook Inlet miscellany

At the Kitchen Lights unit, Kay Rieck asked to transfer small royalty interests in 30 leases to Infinity Alaska Ltd. The amounts are also all less than 1 percent.

—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.