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MMS issues call for interest in Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin, Norton Basin; agency to plan sales only if there sufficient industry interest
The Minerals Management Service Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Region has issued a call for nominations in its Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin and Norton Basin planning areas. MMS said that based on information and specific nominations received for these areas, a decision will be made whether to hold a lease sale.
Nominations and comments must be received by May 10, and tentative process milestones indicate that if sales were held they would be in September 2006, although if MMS determined that an environmental impact statement were required, the process could be lengthened by six months. Frontier areas These are frontier OCS areas with potential oil and gas resources, but high economic costs, the agency said.
The Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin area is offshore Alaska between Cape Krusenstern and Point Barrow and includes some 34 million acres from 10 to 200 miles offshore and with water depths from 32 to 230 feet; a small portion of the northwest corner drops to approximately 3,000 feet. The Chukchi shelf is estimated to contain from 8.6 to 25.03 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids, with a mean of 15.46 billion barrels. The gas resource is estimated at from 13.56 trillion cubic feet to 164.31 tcf, with a mean of 60.11 tcf. Barrels of oil equivalent are estimated at from 11.32 billion barrels to 49.6 billion barrels, with a mean of 26.21 billion barrels. Estimates for the Hope Basin are from zero to 280 million barrels of oil and NGL, with a mean of 90 million barrels. The gas resource is estimated at from zero to 11.06 tcf, with a mean of 3.38 tcf. Barrels of oil equivalent are estimated from zero to 2.25 billion barrels, with a mean of 690 million barrels.
The Norton Basin is offshore Alaska in the northern Bering Sea, west and south off the coast of the Seward Peninsula. It includes some 25 million acres extending offshore from about three to 320 miles in water depths from 25 to 650 feet. The resource estimate is from zero to 150 million barrels of oil and NGL, with a mean of 50 million barrels; from zero to 8.74 tcf of natural gas, with a mean of 2.71 tcf; and from zero to 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with a mean of 530 million barrels. No active leases in planning areas MMS has no active leases in these planning areas. The agency has held two lease sales in the Chukchi Sea area, in 1988 and 1991, and four exploratory wells have been drilled. All 378 leases issued have been relinquished or expired.
There have been no lease sales in the Hope Basin area.
MMS held one sale in the Norton Basin area in 1983 and six exploratory wells were drilled; all 59 leases have been relinquished or expired.
—Petroleum News
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