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Forcenergy hopes to lift bankruptcy status before year’s end The Miami-based company invested aggressively in Alaska wells and leases, but ran into a credit squeeze when oil prices fell by The Associated Press
Forcenergy Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, said July 29 that it hopes to propose a reorganization plan soon.
The Miami-based company, which invested aggressively in Alaska wells and leases, ran into a credit squeeze when oil prices dropped.
Oil prices are climbing again, and Forcenergy could emerge from bankruptcy by the end of the year, said Gary Carlson, the company’s vice president for Alaska operations.
Forcenergy is still planning to install a new platform in Cook Inlet to drill for oil. Officials had hoped to have permits for platform installation and exploratory drilling by August, he said.
Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea has finished building the Osprey platform for Forcenergy. VECO Inc. built platform living quarters in Anchorage.
Platform may go in next year Forcenergy had originally hoped to install the platform this year. The company’s financial problems set that back a year.
“We’ll put it in next year, as early as we can, once the ice is out of Cook Inlet,” Carlson said. “We’ll begin installation in April or May and finish in June or July.Ó
Carlson said he was not free to discuss Forcenergy’s ideas for reorganizing the company’s finances. Forcenergy officials have suggested that unsecured creditors might receive Forcenergy stock.
Recently improved oil prices significantly decrease Forcenergy’s need to borrow during reorganization, Carlson said.
The bulk of Forcenergy’s operations and assets are in the Gulf of Mexico, but it has bought oil reserves and facilities in Cook Inlet, as well as bidding aggressively for leases in Alaska.
In Cook Inlet, the company owns roughly half of the Trading Bay Unit and half of the Trading Bay Field, both operated by Unocal. Forcenergy owns and operates the West McArthur River field and holds leases in Cook Inlet. It employs 23 people in Alaska.
Carlson said Forcenergy is working with Unocal this summer to complete several dozen capital projects.
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