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BLM okays all 133 NPR-A lease applications; 14 staking notices received ARCO, BP stake exploration well locations on eastern border, in north central sale area; both target Jurassic at about 8,500 feet Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has finished evaluating all 133 lease applications received at the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska oil and gas lease sale held in May and has received 14 notices of staking for exploration wells on leased tracts.
BLM spokesman Ed Bovy said July 29 that all of the lease applications had cleared their final evaluation and either are being issued or have been issued.
Bovy said Aug. 9 that BLM has received notices of staking on those leases from both ARCO Alaska Inc. and BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. Eight of the notices were from ARCO, six from BP. BLM expects to receive applications for drilling permits for only about half of the locations staked, he said. BLM completed field work for BP’s notices the first week in August and planned to do onsite field work for ARCO’s applications the week of Aug. 9.
The tracts the companies are looking at for exploration wells generally conform with the tracts receiving the highest per-acre bids at the NPR-A lease sale BLM held in May, with wells staked in seven of the 10 highest priced tracts.
Both companies are targeting the Jurassic at about 8,500 feet.
All of the tracts staked are in the northern, higher-value, portion of the NPR-A sale area. The locations ARCO staked are on tract H-042 on the eastern border of the sale area and H-045, an adjacent tract, and on H-050, H-051, H-053 and H-070, still on the eastern side of the sale area but as much as 12 miles into NPR-A. The BP staked tracts, H-111, H-112, H-113, H-114, H-115, H-118, H-136 and H-139, are in the north central sale area, southeast of Teshekpuk Lake and some 24 miles from the NPR-A border — farther west and farther north than the ARCO stakings.
A BLM map of the lease sale tracts is available on the Internet: http://www.ak.blm.gov/special/leasemap.gif
ARCO stakes eight wells ARCO’s notices of staking cover eight wells at four prospects, all targeted to the Jurassic at approximately 8,500 feet, three on tracts which were among the top 10 in bid per acre at the NPR-A lease sale.
ARCO Alaska spokeswoman Dawn Patience told PNA Aug. 12 that the notices of staking are prerequisites for drilling permits.
“Before the permits are filed this fall,” she said, “the drilling locations will be further evaluated.”
Staking notices show that ARCO has staked two wells in its Rendezvous prospect on tract H-051, which received the sale’s highest bid. ARCO (78 percent) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (22 percent) bid $635.04 an acre for the 5,756 acre tract, a total of $3,655,100. BP (72 percent) and Phillips Petroleum Co. (28 percent) bid $271,100 on this tract.
ARCO’s Moose’s Tooth prospect, with three wells staked, is on tracts H-050 and H-053. Tract H-053 received the sale’s second highest bid, $625.67 an acre, a total of $3,601,100 for 5,756 acres. Tract H-050 received the 14th highest bid, $390.05 an acre, a total of $2,212,200 for 5,672 acres.
ARCO has staked two wells on its Clover prospect on tracts H-42 and H-45, the 15th and 16th highest priced tracts, at $360.01 an acre ($2,020,400 for 5,612 acres) and $355.02 an acre ($2,043,400 for 5,756 acres) respectively.
ARCO’s Lookout prospect, a single well, would be on tract H-070, the seventh most expensive tract, $460.02 an acre for 5,756 acres, a total of $2,647,800.
BP stakes six ice pads, 18 wells BP filed notices of staking for three wells at each of six ice pads, four in the top 10 of tract bids ranked by bid per acre. BP is targeting the Jurassic sands at about 8,500 feet.
BP has staked on an ARCO-Anadarko tract, H-118, for an ice pad to drill into BP tracts H-139 and H-136. Tract H-136 received the third-highest per acre bid, $612 an acre for 5,743 acres, a total of $3,514,860. Tract H-139 ranked 21st in bidding at $301 an acre for 5,755 acres, a total of $1,732,379. ARCO-Anadarko also bid on both these tracts.
This staking lists an ice pad and three wells, D-1, D-2 and D-3 with two locations.
BP bid $608.28 an acre for tract H-114, the fifth highest priced tract (5,756 acres for $3,501,000); ARCO-Anadarko bid $3,000,100 for this tract.
Two ice pads, each with three wells, have been staked on this tract.
BP staked an ice pad and three wells on tract H-112, on which it bid $452.61 an acre, the eighth highest bid per acre, a total of $2,605,000 for 5,755 acres. ARCO-Anadarko bid $1,732,400 for this tract.
BP bid $425 an acre for tract H-115, the 10th highest winning bid per acre, paying $1,900,100 for 5,576 acres. ARCO-Anadarko bid $1,900,100 for this tract. An ice pad and wells E-1, E-2 and E-3 were staked at two locations.
BP bid $76.27 an acre for tract H-113, $427,066 for 5,599 acres. ARCO-Anadarko also bid on this tract. An ice pad and three wells, C-1, C-2, C-3, are listed for one location.
Seven companies bid at sale Bidders at the sale, ranked by dollars of high bids by individual company at the May sale, were: ARCO Alaska ($55,048,637 for 447,285 acres); BP Exploration (Alaska) ($18,663,897 for 86,322 acres); Anadarko Petroleum ($16,509,039 for 181,120 acres); Phillips Petroleum ($7,305,766 for 117,050 acres); Chevron U.S.A. Inc. ($7,069,921 for 29,540 acres); and R3 Exploration Corp. ($37,470 for 6,133 acres).
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