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Oil Patch Insider Bass Boys raise Nova Scotia’s hopes; Parnell leaves division
The tight-lipped Bass billionaires of Texas are putting themselves in the spotlight – like it or not.
Through Bass Enterprises Production of Fort Worth they are moving ahead with plans for a wildcat well offshore Nova Scotia in early 2006.
In the process they are switching the focus in the Nova Scotia waters from natural gas, which has yielded little other than dry holes in recent years, to oil.
But the gamble isn’t likely to cause heart beats to skip in the Bass family, led by patriarch Perry 90 and comprising four brothers – all five of whom have accumulated fortunes through real estate, news media and technological investments.
Since obtaining an exploration license in 2002, Bass Enterprises has gathered enough 3-D seismic through modern digital projections to stir optimism.
The well, named Mon Cherie, will be drilled in 4,800 feet of water to a total depth of about 10,700 feet.
It is in the same vicinity as a well plugged and abandoned 20 years ago by Petro-Canada and Texaco.
For the Nova Scotia government and industry, the results could be crucial to the region’s chances of reviving hope after years of setbacks. Parnell leaves Division of Oil and Gas Sean Parnell, deputy director of the state of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, has left the agency, Mark Myers, director of the division told Petroleum News June 6.
Parnell received “an offer he couldn’t refuse” from the Anchorage office of Patton Boggs, an international law firm, Myers said, where Parnell will be a partner.
Parnell, a former state senator, also was a member of the state’s gas pipeline negotiating team.
In the interim, the division’s petroleum manager, Bill Van Dyke, will be acting deputy director. Myers said no decision has been made on a long-term replacement. Sempra’s investment in Alaska LNG hit $6.3M The San Diego Union Tribune picked up a tidbit concerning Sempra’s withdrawal from its alliance with the Alaska Gasline Port Authority’s proposed LNG project that as of June 9 (Petroleum News’ press date) no other publication had reported.
The Tribune reported that at the time of its withdrawal, San Diego-based Sempra had invested $6.3 million in the port authority’s LNG project, which will be recovered only if the project is successfully completed. The company had been paying $750,000 per month under its deal with Sempra.
Editor’s note: Oil Patch Insider is written by Gary Park and Kay Cashman. Please send news leads to [email protected] or call 907 770-3505.
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