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3D seismic possible
AIDEA's Ruaro, Voice of Arctic Inupiat's Harcharek talk ANWR 1002 opening
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
Nagruk Harcharek, president of the Voice of Arctic Inupiat, said May 20 that news the Gwich'in Steering Committee and other "outside" organizations are appealing the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska's ruling that the Biden administration's cancellation of seven leases in the ANWR 1002 Area was illegal is discouraging.
"Once again, it is disheartening that outside groups with no connection to the North Slope, our communities, or our culture are attempting to restrict our rights to our Indigenous homelands. Their actions do not reflect the overwhelming support by North Slope Indigenous communities -- including Kaktovik, the only community located within ANWR -- for self-determination on our ancestral homelands. Their actions can, and have, impacted our ability to sustain ourselves in our homelands and our Inupiaq culture.
"The Biden administration ignored our voices when it decided to unilaterally cancel seven leases in ANWR. To appeal Judge Gleason's ruling is to yet again prioritize an outside agenda over the people who live on the North Slope and who will be most impacted by these flawed policies," Harcharek said.
VOICE is a nonprofit organization established in 2015 by the region's collective elected Inupiat leadership and is dedicated to preserving and advancing North Slope Inupiat cultural and economic self-determination. Its members include local governments, Alaska Native corporations, federally recognized tribes, and tribal non-profits across the North Slope of Alaska.
The seven ANWR leases were awarded as the result of a 2020 federal lease sale at the end of the first Trump administration to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, a state-owned investment bank whose mission is to promote, develop, and advance the general prosperity and economic welfare of Alaskans.
Bids for the sale had to be submitted by Dec. 31, 2020, and winners were announced in 2021. Then the leases were suspended and later cancelled in 2021 by the Biden administration.
Interview with Ruaro In a recent interview with AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro, Petroleum News asked whether 3D seismic and other pre-drilling work might be done as early as the winter of 2025-2026.
"It is possible, but not certain," Ruaro replied. "Trump will comply with the court decision."
Ruaro said it is "very clear in the regulations that you can't take someone's oil and gas leases without a court order -- they didn't have one -- they just did it."
Ruaro said the Trump administration has indicated that the U.S. Department of Interior intends to reinstate the leases sold in the 2020 lease sale. If that happens by this fall it could enable pre-drilling work in the winter of 2025-2026.
Of the nine leases sold during the sale, the two held by companies were refunded at the request of the lessees, and the remaining seven, held by AIDEA, were canceled by Biden's Secretary of the Interior.
It is not known whether the two companies -- Knik Arm Services and 88 Energy's Alaska operating subsidiary Regenerate Energy -- will be able to get their leases reinstated.
Old data When Congress created the 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1980, it set aside 1.57 million acres for resource development, known as the 1002 Area, because of its oil and gas potential.
The assessment of the 1002 Area's resource potential of 7.3 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil is based on 1,450 line miles of 2D seismic data undertaken by the U.S. Geological Survey for a 1987 report.
While this data has been repeatedly reinterpreted by geologists using the best available methods, the data itself is three decades old. Although valuable for understanding the area's general geologic characteristics, the data can be improved by detailed mapping of structural and stratigraphic prospects. More reliable oil and gas resource estimates can be obtained through a low-impact campaign of carefully planned 3D seismic surveys, an Oct. 23, 2024, AIDEA resolution said.
More oil the better Development of the northwest corner of ANWR ties into Point Thomson infrastructure and ties in with Bill Armstrong's discovery and Jade's Sourdough leases.
Ruaro said, "The more oil we find in that area, the better for everyone."
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