Testing for shallow gas at Wainwright 03/18/2007
Well to be drilled in the early summer will test for gas in coal seams under the Chukchi coast village
After a pause of a couple of years, the project to test the potential to use coalbed natural gas as an energy source in rural Alaska is under way again, this time in Wainwright on the Chukchi Sea coas...

Gas-Pro plans CNG production at North Fork 03/11/2007
Rising gas prices encourage NorthStar affiliate Gas-Pro to seek novel approach to gas production on southern Kenai Peninsula
In the summer of 2006 it was starting to look as if time had finally run out for Gas-Pro Alaska's North Fork unit, in the southern part of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. An agreement with Enstar Natural Ga...

New Alaska Peninsula gas play? 03/04/2007
Hewitt Mineral investigations may have found something others have missed
When Ardmore, Okla.-based Hewitt Mineral Corp. picked up four tracts near Herendeen Bay at the State of Alaska's October 2005 Alaska Peninsula areawide lease sale, the company said that it was going t...

Oil Patch Insider 02/18/2007
TAPS starts first new electric pumps; Agrium writes off Nikiski; Palin slams Exxon; Petro-Canada not going to operate in NPR-A
The startup of the new electric pump system at pump station 9 of the trans-Alaska pipeline has started to bring to fruition the years of work involved in the strategic reconfiguration of the pipeline...

Oil Patch Insider 02/11/2007
Pipeliners Enbridge and TransCanada in all-out race to U.S.; Marushack, Konrad out of Alaska gas negotiations
Call it one-upmanship, or tit-for-tat of the battle of the giants. You won't catch spokesmen for either Enbridge or TransCanada using such terms. But whatever it is they're engaged in, it has all the...

MINING NEWS: Alaska settles RS 2477 trails dispute 01/28/2007
State establishes clear title, gains right to build road to Coldfoot-Chandalar area, with federal-Native corporation settlement
The State of Alaska has established clear ownership of two historic trails in northern Alaska under a settlement reached with federal and Native corporation officials of the state's claim to the trail...

MINING NEWS: Mining report stirs industry buzz 01/28/2007
Researchers blame water pollution at mines on faulty modeling, regulatory failures; regulators, trade groups react to findings
Research prepared for mining industry critic Earthworks claims that faulty water quality predictions, and mitigation and regulatory failures are responsible for hard rock mining-related water pollutio...

MINING NEWS: Region benefits from Donlin Creek project 01/28/2007
Local hire commitment pays off as village residents escape from drugs and alcohol and are promoted to supervisory positions
Alaska's Donlin Creek gold project is still several years from becoming an operating mine, but it has already made a huge impact on the lives of people in the surrounding rural communities. Since maki...

Cracking the southern Kenai gas puzzle 01/14/2007
As Enstar edges forward with ideas for an extension to the Kenai Kachemak pipeline, DNR extends the North Fork unit
The potential development of natural gas in the southern part of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula is starting to look a bit like a chicken with a rather promising egg. Several known gas accumulations exist so...

Petro-Canada, FEX link up to explore NPR-A 01/07/2007
Canadian companies form exploration partnership on jointly held leases in National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
It looks like Alaska will have one less operator than expected next winter. Two Calgary-based companies, Petro-Canada and Talisman Energy's Alaska subsidiary FEX, have teamed up to explore their joint...

NSSI: Coordinating North Slope science 12/31/2006
New Alaska North Slope project database nearing completion; GIS coordination depends on funding from Congress
It's been little more than a year since the U.S. Energy Policy Act formalized the existence of the North Slope Science Initiative, an inter-agency effort to provide a consistent approach to high-calib...

Tundra travel opens in NE NPR-A 12/31/2006
Following on the heels of the opening of tundra travel in the coastal areas of state North Slope lands, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management opened tundra travel in the NPR-A northeast planning area on...

MINING NEWS: No fish refuge yet for Pebble project 12/24/2006
Campaign by Trout Unlimited fails to win support of Alaska's Board of Fisheries, but a committee will consider what actions to take
Alaska's Board of Fisheries has declined a proposal to recommend to the Legislature that a fish refuge be created near the Pebble project site. Instead, the Board will establish a three-person committ...

Oilpatch Insider 12/24/2006
Coastal tundra travel open; Chavez comes to Alberta's rescue; Hite joins Benchmark; Interior picks Nageak; Katz stays
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources opened the eastern and western coastal areas of state land on Alaska's North Slope for winter tundra travel effective 8 a.m. Dec. 19. The department said the...

Oil Patch Insider 12/17/2006
NW NPR-A open for travel, other areas still closed; Pearce sworn in
The Bureau of Land Management said Dec. 13 that it is allowing tundra travel in the northwest planning area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, provided that operators ensure that they meet the...

BLM report: Resource access restricted 12/03/2006
Only 3% of oil and 13% of gas on federal lands accessible under standard lease terms; half of oil, one-quarter of gas off limits
About half the oil and more than a quarter of the natural gas inventoried on 99 million acres of federal land are off limits to drilling because of significant environmental and other restrictions, th...

Nanuq producing crude 12/03/2006
Conoco, Anadarko's second Alpine satellite comes online in North Slope Colville unit
Production began Nov. 27 from Nanuq, the second satellite to come online at the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field in the Colville River unit. ConocoPhillips holds 78 percent of the working i...

MINING NEWS: Governor Palin ready for mining education 11/26/2006
Alaska's new and old leaders make miners' convention their first port of call after the mid-term elections, promise support
Alaska's governor-elect, Republican Sarah Palin, made the annual miners' convention in Anchorage the venue for her first official engagement after the election, promising to listen to the industry as...

Borough seeks consensus on NPR-A 11/26/2006
Oil and gas plan involves a collaborative approach to addressing the impacts on North Slope communities of industrial development
The villagers of Nuiqsut on the Beaufort Sea coast just east of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska look out on the nearby industrial facilities of the Alpine oil field where once there was only arc...

Alaska scientist making his mark at USGS 11/26/2006
Resignation from DNR's Division of Oil and Gas proved fortuitous for Mark Myers, who is now director of a national agency
What a difference a year makes. Mark Myers couldn't have been more accurate in using those words to describe his dramatic shift in fortunes since he resigned as head of Alaska's Division of Oil and Ga...

BLM doing supplemental EIS for NE NPR-A 11/26/2006
The Bureau of Land Management said Nov. 17 that it will develop a supplemental environmental impact statement for the northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to address cumulative i...

ConocoPhillips' 2007 exploration program in Alaska to top '06 effort 11/26/2006
Company President Jim Bowles tells RDC conference Conoco drilled smaller plays closer to infrastructure last year; in 2007 company going back into NPR-A, as far west as Barrow
ConocoPhillips Alaska focused its 2006 exploration close to existing infrastructure at Kuparuk and Alpine, the company's president, Jim Bowles, told the Resource Development Council's annual conferenc...

Equipment mislabeling glitch for Alyeska Pipeline Service 11/19/2006
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. was ordered by the Bureau of Land Management to remove from service immediately a transformer at Pump Station 9 "and all other electrical items which do not show proper ev...

THE EXPLORERS 2006 - Small firms, investors seek reg changes 11/12/2006
Long-timers Paul Craig, Dave Lappi turning to other opportunities, such as Interior wind power and Uganda
The smallest explorers in Alaska's oil patch spent a quiet year considering their options and looking for opportunities in an investment regime they say needs an overhaul. Throughout the history of o...

THE EXPLORERS 2006 - Petro-Canada advances in Alaska 11/12/2006
Has 1.6M net acres of leased, option lands in Alaska; looking at drilling 2-3 exploration wells in 2007-08
In late 2004 Petro-Canada's chief executive officer, Ron Brenneman, said the company planned to develop "long-term" natural gas supply opportunities on Alaska's North Slope in expectations that a gas...