U.S./Canada ///
Mike Slaton, Contributing Editor
Dancing on melting ice
The Trump administration on Thursday took a major step toward auctioning oil drilling rights across every acre of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain, hours after the House of Representatives voted to outlaw the activity.
This new assessment updates a 2008 USGS study that estimated about 85 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources within gas hydrates on the Alaska North Slope.
Snow depths on Alaska’s North Slope have thinned this year, the University of Alaska Fairbanks said in a study, creating a possible obstacle for exploration in part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge thought to harbor more than 7 Bbbl of oil.
BP has closed one chapter in its U.S. business, exiting Alaska decades after transforming the state into an oil powerhouse. Now it’s time for a new phase in the company’s American story.
Texas oilman Jeffery Hildebrand became a billionaire by shunning the shale revolution taking place in his home state. Now, he’s making his biggest bet yet -- Alaska -- just as shale producers run out of steam.
ConocoPhillips Alaska (COPA) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Caelus Natural Resources Alaska, LLC to acquire 100% of the Nuna discovery, located just east of the Colville River and approximately 5 mi southwest of Oooguruk field.
The Trump administration's attempt to restore oil and gas leasing in U.S. waters was blocked by a federal judge in Alaska, delivering a win to environmentalists who argued that offshore drilling isn’t worth the risk.
The Trump administration has authorized Hilcorp Energy Co.’s plan to build an artificial gravel island in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and use it to extract crude -- marking the first approval of an oil production facility in federal Arctic waters.
ConocoPhillips has provided an update on its operating plan for Alaska, focusing on the company’s long history of creating value in the state and an ongoing commitment to invest in low cost of supply opportunities.
BP has announced that it has entered into agreements with ConocoPhillips that will significantly increase its holding in Clair field, a core asset of BP’s North Sea business in the UK.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for oil from ANWR.
As Alaska’s congressional delegation worked feverishly last year to achieve the decades-long dream of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they came across a formidable opponent: Canada.
The Alaska LNG Project reached a historic milestone today as BP Alaska and Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) announced the parties have agreed to key terms of a gas sales agreement, including price and volume.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced it will publish in the Federal Register a call for information and nominations covering a proposed lease sale in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea Planning Area in 2019.
William (Bill) Head, Contributing Editor
2018: The best [or worst] year ever?
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke released an updated resource assessment for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), the Western Beaufort Sea, adjacent State and Native lands, and State waters, which estimates the mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources both on and offshore to include 17.6 Bbbl of oil and more than 50 Tcf of gas.
Congress is close to lifting a 40-year-old ban on energy development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but drilling for oil in that frozen wilderness may still be years away as the effort faces exhaustive environmental reviews and likely lawsuits.
The Trump administration has a plan in place to speed up permit reviews for drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if Congress approves exploration there, an advisor to the U.S. Interior Department said Thursday.
A bid to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling faces a hold up over an arcane budget rule, a development that may mean it can’t be included in the tax overhaul legislation.