The Oil Patch Insider

Oil and gas auction to offer 925 Lower 48 properties

Called the Hybrid Floor/Internet Auction, the auction allows Internet bidders to compete real time against floor bidders. The 925 properties will be combined into 188 separate lots.

Properties to be offered are in Alabama, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Sellers include ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Dominion Exploration, Denbury Resources, Maguire Oil, Noble Energy, Occidental Petroleum, Total and Danmark Energy.

Properties can be previewed online through Data Room Explorer on the Clearinghouse web site, www.ogclearinghouse.com. Through Data Room Explorer, prospective bidders can search for properties based on specific criteria and view all supporting information, including property data sheets, production reports and lease operating statements.

Houston-based data rooms, including complete seller files, will be open through July 14. For an appointment, the Clearinghouse can be reached 281-873-4600.

A pre-sale conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 15 at the Sheraton. All seller files will be available.

One hot ice well only on Alaska’s North Slope, says Anadarko

Hanley said Anadarko had actually decided to drill only one of the three hot ice wells it permitted on the North Slope as part of a three well DOE program from the beginning, he said, because it was obvious that the cost of drilling more than one well was going to be higher than Anadarko and its partners were willing to fund.

Anadarko will go back this coming winter to finish coring the first hot ice well that it started drilling March 31, Hanley said, coring “to base of permafrost at 1,400 feet,” and suspending operation on April 21, according to a report on Maurer’s web page.

“We cored down to a certain depth just above where we thought hydrates were; right above the hydrate zone and then it started raining up on the slope. We got concerned about moving the lab out, so when it hit 35 degrees and was raining, we shut down our operations, knowing we would go back and finish the coring this coming winter,” Hanley said.

The time frame for going back to finish coring is sometime between October and January, he said, depending on when Anadarko decides what is the best time and what permitting agencies agree to, he said.

The Arctic platform (with the camp and drilling rig) is still on-site, at the Hot Ice prospect 20 miles south of the Kuparuk River oil field on Alaska’s North Slope.

“If we go back in with rolligons before the traditional tundra season opens it will be a demonstration of the Arctic platform technology,” Hanley said.

And when Anadarko finishes coring, there is a possibility that the platform will be moved to a second, conventional, exploration drill site on the North Slope, he said. “Our people are still working on the logistics of what makes the most sense.”

Oil Patch Insider is compiled by Paula Easley, Kay Cashman and Steve Sutherlin with news coming from a variety of sources, including news tips and press releases from readers. Petroleum News writers in Anchorage, Calgary, Vancouver, Fairbanks, Houston and Washington, D.C. also supply news leads and briefs. If you have a news tip or press release for Oil Patch Insider, please email [email protected], phone (907) 245-2297, or fax (907) 522-9583.

Corrections

• In the June 29 edition article titled “Kuvlum, other discoveries may be key to successful lease sale” Petroleum News said “MMS estimates that a mean 3.24 billion barrels could be economically recovered at $18 per barrel and a mean 1.78 billion barrels at $30 per barrel.” The oil price information should be reversed to read: “MMS estimates that a mean 3.24 billion barrels could be economically recovered at $30 per barrel and a mean 1.78 billion barrels at $18 per barrel.”