Lease buyback will be state’s last resort, Murkowski says

Petroleum News

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski’s office released a statement Dec. 8, clarifying comments made by the governor Dec. 4 on buyback of coalbed methane leases.

The statement said the governor was clear that consideration of the state buying back any coalbed methane leases in the Mat-Su and on the Kenai Peninsula would only be after all other options are exhausted.

“The state will consider buybacks of shallow natural gas leases only as a last resort,” Murkowski said in response to a question at a Dec. 4 press conference in Anchorage.

The state has some 270,000 acres of active shallow gas leases, almost 230,000 acres in the Matanuska-Susitna area, some 23,000 acres near Homer on the Kenai Peninsula and 23,000 acres near the Red Dog mine in northwestern Alaska.

The Department of Natural Resources is engaged in crafting rules for coalbed methane development and the governor’s office said the state remains committed to the development of coalbed methane, both for use in Southcentral Alaska and as a significant source of rural energy.

The department is working with other state agencies and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to write specific guidelines for coalbed methane development and has said rules for coalbed methane development in the Mat-Su Borough will be crafted through public workshops. The first workshop had been scheduled for Dec. 9, but the department said Dec. 4 that it was rescheduling that first public workshop at the request of the Mat-Su Borough.

Workshops are now scheduled for Jan. 14, Jan. 21, Jan. 28 and Feb. 4. Each workshop will address specific topics, and the department said it would be determining those topics in the near future.