|
NordAq drops Cook Inlet Tiger Eye unit Other oil and gas, geothermal lease transactions impact Ormat, Woodstone, Glacier and Hilcorp, plus Kitchen Lights and Cosmo units ERIC LIDJI For Petroleum News
The state Division of Oil and Gas is considering 130 separate requests from NordAq Energy Inc. to transfer small royalty interests - 0.1333 to 0.2 percent - in its remaining Beaufort Sea leases to a variety of investors including David R. and Laurel E. Hale, Geohorn LLC, Daniel Gilbertson, James and Leta Thurman and AFO LLC.
The state also agreed to a request from NordAq to terminate the Tiger Eye unit and surrender its two leases - ADL 391103 and ADL 391104. The state formed the 7,680-acre unit in October 2012, and required NordAq to drill an initial well at the unit by the end of the year. The company drilled the Tiger Eye Central No. 1 well soon after and proposed a plan for developing the prospect by 2013, but those plans never came to fruition. The unit was on the west side of Cook Inlet, in the vicinity of Trading Bay.
Ormat done ORNI 46 LLC surrendered three geothermal leases in the Cook Inlet region.
The wholly owned subsidiary of Ormat Nevada Inc. relinquished ADL 391354, ADL 391355 and ADL 391360 in October, according to recent leasing reports. The leases were in the Mount Spurr region, north of Chakachatna River, on the west side of Cook Inlet.
The company acquired the acreage in 2008, drilled two core holes in the area in 2010 and deepened the wells in 2011. The wells proved to be disappointing for geothermal resources and the company wrote off $7.3 million in exploration costs in late 2014.
Woodstone shrinks The state terminated seven Woodstone Resources LLC leases for failure to pay rent.
The leases were split between two blocks that the company holds along the southern edge of the North Slope, near the start of the foothills of the Brooks Range Mountains.
ADL 392287, ADL 392288, ADL 392289, ADL 392290 and ADL 392291 were part of a block of eight leases a few miles west of the Gubik prospect. Woodstone retained three leases in the area associated with the Itkillik Unit No. 1 well that BP drilled in 1965.
ADL 392292 and ADL 392293 were part of a block of eight leases further to the east, between the Toolik River and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. The company retained five leases, including one associated with the Nora Fed No. 1 well ARCO drilled in 1970.
Glacier changes west side The Glacier Oil & Gas Corp. subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy LLC surrendered ADL 390368 associated with its Kustatan Production Facility. The lease was associated with the KF No. 1 natural gas well.
The state is reviewing eight separate requests from Kitty F. Cromwell, Susan Cromwell Chalker, the Marilynn J. Szydlowski Revocable Trust and the Estate of John A. Blume to transfer small royalty interests in two leases - ADL 374002 and ADL 378114 - at the Redoubt unit in Cook Inlet to operator Glacier Oil & Gas subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy.
Kitchen Lights, Cosmo The state is reviewing a request from MLQ LLC to transfer a 2.5 percent royalty interest in eight leases at the Kitchen Lights unit to Special Situations Investing Group II LLC.
Both MLQ and Special Situations are affiliates of Goldman Sachs according to the state corporations database. The former was created in 2007 and the later was created this year.
The state is reviewing six separate requests each - 12 total - from David J. and Catherine T. Doherty and from Mark R. and Carol T. Landt to transfer small royalty interests in ADL 389927, ADL 389928, ADL 389929, ADL 389930, ADL 390374 and ADL 390381 to ProAk LLC. The leases are associated with the Kitchen Lights unit in Cook Inlet.
The state is reviewing a request from Donkel Oil and Gas LLC to transfer 0.375 percent royalty interest in two leases - ADL 18790 and ADL 384403 - at the BlueCrest Energy Inc.-operated Cosmopolitan unit in the Cook Inlet region to Cade III Family LLC.
Hilcorp The state approved a request from Hilcorp Alaska LLC to surrender the Kasilof unit, off the coast of Clam Gulch along the east side of Cook Inlet. The two leases in the unit - ADL 384529 and ADL 384534 - had already passed their primary term. Without the protection of a unit, they now enter their 90-day secondary term, ending Jan. 31, 2017.
The state also approved an expansion of the Hilcorp-operated Middle Ground Shoal unit.
—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.
| 