|
Feige reflects on DOG’s function, emphasizes efficiency & rapport
Some five weeks into her new position as director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, Corri Feige told Petroleum News that she sees the optimization of the division’s operations and maintaining effective relationships with oil and gas lessees and operators as crucially important. With Alaska’s principal revenue stream coming through the division, the division must support successful projects while also protecting the state’s interests, she said.
“That can be tough, given the state’s current budget situation and in the face of the maturing oil and gas industry in the state,” she commented.
However, the division has a strong, experienced team of seasoned professionals who are working very effectively, Feige said.
Three priorities Feige said that she sees three main priorities for the division: the optimization of the division’s operations; maintaining solid working relationships with the legacy oil and gas producers; and getting to know the new companies that have been entering the Alaska oil and gas industry.
She views optimization of the division’s operations as a key to maintaining the state revenue flow.
“We need to be able to keep pace with our explorers and our developers, even when the budget is tight, to make sure that we don’t do anything to hinder that revenue stream coming in through DOG,” she said.
There is a continuing initiative within the division, mapping regulatory processes, to avoid internal redundancies and ensure that reviews do not take excessive amounts of time. Alaska has high operating costs, in particular because of the highly seasonal nature of work such as exploration drilling or field development: The division can help mitigate those costs by, for example, making permitting processes more understandable and more navigable, Feige said. Feige also stressed the importance of dialogue over company plans, ahead of formal permit applications, as a route to permitting efficiency.
But it is also essential that the division’s operations protect the state’s interests and that there is an adequate avenue for public input, giving the public confidence in what is happening, she said.
Understanding the challenges In terms of the relationships between the state and the various companies operating in Alaska, the division wants to understand the challenges that the legacy producers face while also building a rapport with the companies that are new to the state. The large and mid-sized companies that have been operating in the state for many years are now having to deal with maturing oil fields and aging infrastructure, while the newcomers are seeking investment dollars while also becoming familiar with the state’s business environment.
Feige said that she feels excited about the interest that the industry continues to show in the state’s oil and gas resources, with smaller companies entering the state’s oil and gas industry, as the oil and gas basins mature. Although Alaska has some large fields that are in decline, the state also has much resource remaining to be discovered, she said. And, when it comes to the smaller companies, the division needs to realize that these companies have a different commercial reality than the larger companies that have been in the state for many years.
“They can afford to go after smaller accumulations than the large majors can, simply because their critical mass is smaller,” Feige said.
The division can prove to be a valuable resource for new entrants to Alaska, given the ability of the state personnel to provide advice to newcomers. Experts within the division can, for example, help companies navigate the regulatory process.
Feige said that the division has resolved the issue of financial liability for the eventual dismantlement and removal of oil and gas infrastructure, a particular issue relating to new, smaller companies entering the Alaska industry. Under new regulations, the state conducts a financial fitness test for a field developer, with, depending on the financial capacity of the company, an escrow fund for the restoration costs being tied to the relevant leases.
- Alan Bailey
| 