Northstar Back On Line

Supreme Court upholds Northstar lease; draft EIS expected in June; fabrication to resume later this year; sealift in 2000; production targeted for late 2000, early 2001

Kay Cashman

PNA Editor-in-Chief/Land & Leasing Reporter

The Alaska Supreme Court approved the Northstar oil lease agreement between the state and BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. on May 15, upholding a 1996 Superior Court ruling against plaintiffs Clyde Baxley and the Republican Moderate Party. Baxley's lawsuit, filed on Jan. 28, 1997, challenged revisions in the North Slope field's lease terms that were ratified by the Alaska Legislature and signed by the governor in 1996.

The Supreme Court decision prompted BP to put the Beaufort Sea oil field development back on line. Fabrication is slated to resume in the fourth quarter of this year in Anchorage, island construction and pipeline installation will begin in early 1999 and be completed in 2000, BP spokesman Paul Laird told PNA May 15. Rig modification and mobilization are marked for early 2000 and a major sealift is planned for third quarter 2000.

The company had canceled work on the project shortly after the lawsuit was filed and deferred Northstar development by one year when a Supreme Court ruling failed to materialize by Dec. 5 — the latest BP could have had word from the court and still made its original 1999 sealift date.

BP Exploration (Alaska) President Richard Campbell said the ruling "will enable us to get Alaskans back to work before year's end as we ramp up construction and fabrication activity. It also will enable us to ... begin Northstar production by late 2000 or early 2001." ...

The rest of this story is available from Petroleum News • Alaska by calling the circulation manager Dan Wilcox at 522-9469 for back issue copies. (May 1998)