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Aurora transfers parts of Nicolai Creek Apache and Hilcorp separately acquire portions of leases around the west side Cook Inlet unit; Buccaneer denied royalty transfer Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
Aurora Gas LLC has transferred portions of six leases on the west side of Cook Inlet to two big-hitting newcomers in the basin: Apache Alaska Corp. and Hilcorp Alaska.
At ADL 388233, an onshore lease one mile north of the village of Tyonek and formerly in the Three Mile Creek unit, Aurora transferred portions of four segments to Apache.
For Segment A, which covers the entire lease below the boundary between the Upper and Lower Tyonek formations, Aurora transferred a 70 percent working interest and a 58.06133 percent royalty interest. For Segment B, which covers 200 acres of the lease (in Section 22 and Section 23) below the same boundary, Aurora transferred a 70 percent working interest and a 59.0833 percent royalty interest. For Segment C, which covers 160 acres of the lease (in Section 23) below the same boundary, Aurora transferred a 30 percent working interest and a 23.64533 percent royalty interest. For Segment D, which also covers 160 acres of the lease (also in Section 23) below the same boundary, Aurora transferred a 30 percent working interest and a 24.0833 percent royalty interest.
The remaining five leases are in and around the Nicolai Creek unit.
Aurora transferred a 100 percent working interest and 82 percent royalty interest in two segments of ADL 391471 to Apache Alaska. The onshore unit west of Tyonek contains two non-contiguous leases, ADL 391471 and ADL 63279. ADL 391471 includes four participating areas in their entirety: West Tyonek, West Beluga, Beluga and Nicolai Creek South. Aurora is retaining its interest in the other lease in the unit, ADL 63279.
At ADL 391472 — a larger lease that held by the unit — Aurora transferred a 100 percent working interest and 82 percent royalty interest in Segment A and a 100 percent working interest and 81.75 percent royalty interest in Segment B to Apache Alaska.
At ADL 391265, a lease adjacent to the northwest corner of the unit, Aurora transferred a 100 percent working interest and 86 percent royalty interest to Apache Alaska.
Aurora transferred portions of two leases just south of the unit to Hilcorp. At ADL 017598, Aurora transferred a 100 percent working interest and 85 percent royalty interest in Segment A and a 100 percent working interest and 84.75 percent royalty interest in Segment B. At ADL 017585, Aurora transferred a 100 percent working interest and 85 percent royalty interest in Segment A, a 75 percent working interest and 63.125 percent royalty interest in Segment B, a 75 percent working interest and 64.125 percent royalty interest in Segment C, a 100 percent working interest and 85 percent royalty interest in Segment D and a 75 percent working interest and 63.125 percent royalty interest in Segment E. Both ADL 17598 and ADL 17585 are currently held by production.
In recent years, Aurora has pursued a gas storage project at Nicolai Creek.
Other leasing news The state denied a request from Buccaneer Alaska LLC to transfer a small royalty interest (0.75 percent) in 16 leases across Cook Inlet to Er Alaska LLC, a company formed in May 2012. The leases include acreage at both the offshore Southern Cross and Northwest Cook Inlet units and at both the onshore West Nicolai Creek and West Eagle prospects.
Also in Cook Inlet, Marathon Alaska Production LLC transferred interests in 69 leases across the basin to Hilcorp Alaska LLC, as the legacy player works to hand over its assets in the region to the fast moving newcomer. (See page 1 story on Hilcorp, which has completed its acquisition of Marathon’s Cook Inlet assets.) And Stellar Oil & Gas LLC transferred small royalty interests (all in values less than 1 percent) in four leases at the Northwest Cook Inlet unit to a variety of players including, David W. Fulton, David J. Doherty, Bang Energy LLC, William Allen Huckabay, Strong Energy Resources LLC, Mark R. Landt and the Moore Family Living Trust Dated Nov. 14, 1998, retroactive to September.
On the North Slope, Armstrong Oil & Gas President William D. Armstrong transferred small royalty interests — at 0.1 percent or smaller — in some 160 onshore and offshore leases operated by Repsol E&P USA Inc. to Matthew X. Furin, a company vice president.
—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.
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