Date set for Beaufort Sea, North Slope areawide sales

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas said Aug. 15 that the state’s 2000 North Slope and Beaufort Sea areawide oil and gas lease sales will be held Nov. 15 at the Wilda Marston Theatre at the Loussac Public Library in Anchorage at 8:30 a.m.

The Beaufort Sea sale covers approximately 2 million acres of tide and submerged lands in the Beaufort Sea between the Canadian border and Point Barrow. The area is divided into 516 tracts. Only those tracts not covered by existing leases as of July 10 will be considered available for leasing. Lands released from leased status after that date would be offered in Beaufort Sea areawide 2001, scheduled for October 2001.

The North Slope areawide covers approximately 5.1 million acres, divided into 1,225 tracts between the Canning River and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the east and the Colville River and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the west. As with the Beaufort Sea areawide sale, the cutoff point for lease inclusion in this sale is July 10 and lands released from leased status after that date will be in next year’s areawide sale.

More information is available at: www.dog.dnr.state.ak.us/oil