ASRC meets conditions at Placer unit

The state has officially expanded the Placer unit.

ASRC Exploration LLC has satisfied the first two conditions of a November 2014 ruling, which required the company to file an amended plan of exploration for the North Slope unit and to post a $2.5 million performance bond by January 2015 to backstop a series of work commitments culminating in the drilling of an exploration well by May 2016.

With the bond, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has officially added some 7,288 acres from four leases, bringing the total size of the unit to some 8,768 acres.

The expansion ends deliberations between the Arctic Slope Regional Corp. subsidiary and the state. The company had originally sought an 8,768-acre unit, but the state formed a 1,480-acre unit around the existing Placer No. 1 well. The smaller unit, according to the company, made exploration irrelevant, as any well would merely copy the existing well.

Efforts to solve the problem were delayed by failed attempts to merge Placer with other exploration efforts in the region between the Colville River and Kuparuk River units.

The current plan of exploration for the Placer unit expires Sept. 7, 2016. With the ruling, the company now must file a plan of development with the state by June 10, 2016.

- Eric Lidji