North Slope areawide 2000 lease sale postponed

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Commissioner John Shively of the Department of Natural Resources said Nov. 15 that the department is postponing the North Slope Areawide 2000 lease sale, which was planned for February.

According to Commissioner Shively, “As a result of the pending BP Amoco-ARCO merger there are too many uncertainties in future leaseholdings to proceed with a sale at this time. Until their aggregate onshore holdings have been reduced to 500,000 acres, as required by Alaska law, I believe it will be difficult for prospective bidders to properly evaluate oil and gas opportunities on the lands we can offer. For this reason I have chosen to delay this sale.

“Should the merger be finalized by the end of the year, BP-Amoco must make their seismic and well data available for purchase by the end of March. These data should increase the interest in state lease sales. We are tentatively rescheduling the North Slope sale for late October or early November of 2000, at which time we intend to include with it the postponed Beaufort Sea areawide sale.”

The North Slope Areawide sale includes all available state acreage lying north of the Umiat Meridian, located between the NPRA and ANWR.