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Burlington bets on North Slope Foothills sale
Steve Sutherlin
Houston-based independent Burlington Resources Inc. expanded its global reach to Alaska when its wholly owned subsidiary, 5051 Alaska Inc., successfully bid $1.99 million on 32 tracts in the North Slope Foothills lease sale May 9 in Anchorage.
Canada office handles Alaska At this point the company has no intentions of opening an Alaska office; lease sale evaluations were handled by its Canadian operation, Burlington Resources Canada Energy Ltd. of Calgary, Ellen R. DeSanctis, Burlington vice president of corporate communications, told PNA May 18.
The company’s bid activity represents a low risk way to enter an emerging gas opportunity in the area, DeSanctis said.
“We are trying to get a toehold in some opportunities in the far northwest of North America that would be in concert with our efforts in the Mackenzie Delta to build a position in what could be future opportunities in North America, particularly gas,” she said. Partners with BP, Chevron in Mackenzie Delta Burlington is a partner with BP and Chevron on 540,000 acres in the Mackenzie Delta, PNA was told by Norm Napier, Burlington Canada manager of new ventures and Alaska team leader. With gas supplies diminishing in the U.S., he said, Burlington considers Arctic gas properties to be a sound investment. The company was successful on all leases it bid on in the state of Alaska’s Foothills sale.
“We’re excited about getting the new leases, especially with the other Arctic players up there,” Napier said. “It’s surprising how there was a lack of overlap; everybody picked their favorite structure.”
Burlington will continue field work and surface mapping in the area this year but won’t schedule 2-D and 3-D seismic work until the budget is set in the fall, Napier said. The company has 2-D grid information on the properties and is currently devising better ways to resolve its data, Napier said, adding, “We plan to develop soon.”
North America’s fourth largest gas producer Burlington Resources is among the largest independent oil and gas companies in the U.S. with 1,800 employees and proved reserves exceeding 7.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent. The company operates primarily in North America in the San Juan Basin, the Gulf of Mexico, the mid-continent region, and western Canada. The company also has properties in the East Irish Sea, the North Sea, China, Latin America, and Africa.
Burlington had no assets north of the U.S./Canada border prior to 1999, when it combined its business with Poco Petroleums Ltd. of Calgary in a $2.5 billion (U.S.) transaction, making it the fourth largest producer of natural gas in North America.
Burlington is spending $385 million (U.S.) this year to acquire Petrobank’s Alder Flats and Cynthia properties and the ATCO Viking-Kinsella properties in Canada, adding approximately 300 bcf of proved reserves and 379,000 net acres.
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