BLM issues leases from June NPR-A lease sale

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has completed work on bids received at the agency’s June 3 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska oil and gas lease sale.

BLM said Sept. 23 that its NPR-A bid assessment team completed analysis of the bids submitted at the sale and the agency is accepting all winning bids, from six companies. It expects to have all the leases awarded by Oct. 1.

Bidders are paying BLM $1.9 million for the first year’s lease rentals plus an additional $63.8 million in bonus bids, 50 percent of which ultimately goes to the state of Alaska.

“I am excited about the validation of the bids and the fact that we have some new players in NPR-A,” said Henri Bisson, BLM Alaska state director. “I look forward to working with the public and the companies as we move forward,” he said.

Bidders in the June sale include existing leaseholders Phillips Alaska Inc. (now ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. The new players include TotalFinaElf, which dominated the dollar side of the sale with more than $53 million of the $63 million in apparent high bids, and EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.

The 60 tracts leased in the June sale co”er 579,269 acres in the northeast corner of NPR-A.