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The Oil Patch Insider Kerr-McGee files for North Slope unit
According to company spokeswoman Debbie Schramm Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas filed a unit application with the state of Alaska on Jan. 29 for the acreage it recently acquired from Armstrong Alaska on the North Slope. (See story in the Jan. 11 edition of Petroleum News.) The Oklahoma independent bought a 70 percent interest from Armstrong and took over operatorship of the 12,000 acre Northwest Milne prospect where the companies are drilling one to three exploration wells this winter.
In a Jan. 28 conference call Dave Hager, Kerr-McGee’s senior vice president of exploration and production, said his company viewed the North Slope as a low-cost basin with huge reserve potential. He said Kerr-McGee’s first well at Northwest Milne is expected to cost $7-10 million.
”We think that given that type of cost, we get significant reserve exposure on lower risk prospects for a low entry cost,” Hager said, adding that more acreage divestitures are likely in Alaska, which will provode his company with more acquisition opportunities. Alaska’s government, he said, is interested in getting “more companies like ourselves up there to kick off the next generation of prospecting.”
Kerr-McGee, like Pioneer Natural Resources before it, entered the North Slope under the guidance of Armstrong Alaska, an affiliate of Denver–based Armstrong Oil & Gas. According to Armstrong Vice President Stu Gustafson, Armstrong identifies and acquires North Slope prospects and then puts together a comparatively low-cost exploration, development and production program prior to seeking majority partners as operators.
Kerr-McGee participated in a table-top oil spill drill in late January with its oil spill response contractor Alaska Chadux, Minerals Management Service, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Coast Guard.
“I understand the drill went very well,” Schramm said. “Care for the environment and safety are high priorities for us.” Pioneer hires Mike Dunn, Pat Foley Pioneer Natural Resources said Jan. 28 that it has hired two oil and gas professionals as managers for its Anchorage office. Pat Foley will serve as Pioneer Alaska’s manager of land, commercial and regulatory affairs and Mike Dunn as manager of engineering and development. Both will report to Pioneer’s resident Anchorage manager, Ken Sheffield, president of Pioneer Alaska.
Pat Foley comes to Pioneer from Foley Commercial Services where he was owner and founder. Foley brings to his new job 23 years of international and domestic professional land experience primarily with ARCO and later with BP, including 15 years in Alaska. Mike Dunn was last employed by New Tech Engineering where he served as vice president of its Anchorage operations. Dunn brings 22 years of industry experience to his new job, including engineering positions with ARCO from 1982 to 2000, one and half years with a drilling contractor and two years as an engineering and economic consultant. Twelve of those years were in Alaska.
“We are very pleased to add two high-caliber Alaskans to our local management team in Anchorage. Pat and Mike bring the experience and expertise to allow Pioneer to advance our growth plan in the state,” Sheffield said. ASRC Energy Services acquires Lynx Enterprises ASRC Energy Services, a subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., has acquired Alaska-based environmental consulting firm Lynx Enterprises Inc., ASRC said in a press release in late January.
Lynx specializes in strategic regulatory planning, National Environmental Policy Act planning, documentation, compliance, permitting and right-of-way process management, stakeholder relations, land administration, GIS products and professional labor resources. The firm, which has experience in both onshore and offshore permitting, recently received Minerals Management Service’s 2003 Corporate Leadership Award for work on the McCovey offshore oil and gas exploration project.
“The acquisition of Lynx Enterprises enhances our competitive posture by broadening the suite of integrated network services now covering the total lifecycle of projects,” said Mike Stophlet, president and CEO of ASRC Energy Services. “From exploration to development to production optimization and to final environmental rehabilitation/restoration, we are now even better positioned as a one-stop shop for environmental services.”
Lynx will be part of ASRC Energy Services’ Engineering & Technology business unit and will continue to be managed by Mark Schindler, president. The firm will have offices in ASRC’s Anchorage facility and is opening a new office in Denver, Colo. ASRC farms into Placer prospect Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which represents the business interests of 9,000 Inupiat Eskimos in Arctic Alaska, has quietly entered into what might be its first North Slope investment as an independent oil and gas company under its mentoring agreement with BP Exploration (Alaska).
ASRC’s name appears as a working interest owner on state documents for the Placer No. 1 well, which is being drilled this winter by operator ConocoPhillips in a unit expansion area in the western part of the Kuparuk River unit. BP, Unocal, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and unit operator ConocoPhillips are partners in the area where Placer No. 1 is expected to be spud Feb. 15. ASRC has farmed into BP’s acreage, assuming a portion of the cost of the well in exchange for a 35 percent working interest, leaving BP with no production from the well.
In July, ASRC announced it was expanding its scope to become an independent oil and gas producer on the North Slope and had entered into a “mentoring” agreement with North Slope producer BP. The agreement includes sharing information on unit and near-unit oil and gas investment opportunities, ASRC and BP told Petroleum News (see story in July 13 issue of Petroleum News). The companies hoped to have an exploration or development agreement in place by the end of 2003. (As of Jan. 28, no deals had been announced.)
In July, BP said the mentoring arrangement would help get unit and near-unit North Slope prospects explored and developed that might not get approved by BP’s board in London due to stiff competition from investment opportunities outside Alaska.
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