BLM issues leases from fall NPR-A sale

The federal Bureau of Land Management has issued National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska leases resulting from last fall’s oil and gas lease sale.

The Nov. 19 sale generated $658,978 in bids on seven tracts totaling 66,650 acres.

Five of the new leases are held by NordAq Energy Inc., bringing that company’s total NPR-A acreage to 423,103 acres. One lease is held by a partnership of ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., 78 percent, and Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC, 22 percent, bringing that partnership’s total acreage to 243,919 acres. One lease is held by ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., bringing that company’s total as a 100 percent owner to 107,068 acres.

BLM has held 10 lease sales since 1999, the agency said, with bids totaling more than $261 million. The new leases bring the number of oil and gas leases in NPR-A to 212, covering more than 1.76 million acres.

- Kristen Nelson