Nominations sought for NPR-A sale

The Bureau of Land Management has issued a call for nominations and comments on tracts for its November 2013 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska oil and gas lease sale. BLM said a map of NPR-A showing available areas is online at www.blm.gov/ak.

Nominations and comments on tracts are due July 18.

In 1999 BLM held its first lease sale in NPR-A since 1984 and has held lease sales in both the northwest and northeast planning areas.

“With the new Record of Decision for the NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement in place, there is new interest in leasing in the NPR-A,” BLM-Alaska State Director Bud Cribley said in a June 3 statement. He said the call for nominations and comments “gives industry, conservation groups and other stakeholders the opportunity to provide input into which tracts should be included in or excluded from the sale.”

There are 894 tracts on some 10.3 million acres available for nominations and comments.

BLM has 191 oil and gas leases, some 1.5 million acres, under lease in NPR-A. Two areas, Greater Moose’s Tooth and Bear Tooth, have been unitized.

There is no production from NPR-A, but ConocoPhillips Alaska’s CD-5 drill site, with construction scheduled to begin in early 2014, is in NPR-A, with startup of production from the project in late 2015.

—Petroleum News