Scott de la Vega, acting secretary of the Interior who took office Jan. 20 in the Biden administration, effectively shut down 88 Energy subsidiary Emerald House's winter exploration drilling program in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, emailing the project operator Order 3395 the afternoon of Jan. 21. The order was dated Jan. 20.
Work on Project Peregrine was already underway with Emerald House having spent about $3.2 million to date in rig mobilization, the snow road, equipment hauling, and related costs. The Merlin 1 well, the first of two of the Peregrine Project wells, is some 95 miles from drill site 2P. With drilling expected to get underway between Feb. 15 and March 1, the company was told by Interior's Bureau of Land Management Alaska that their drilling permits would be issued in about two weeks.
De la Vega's surprise order from Washington, D.C., delayed issuance of the permits for up to 60 days for "purposes of reviewing the questions of fact, law, and policy they raise," effectively forcing Emerald House to shut down operations until late March, which is too close to the end of the North Slope winter drilling season to restart operations.
Approximately 300 workers were involved with this winter's operations.
- KAY CASHMAN
See full story in Jan. 31 issue of Petroleum News, available online Friday, Jan. 29 at www.PetroleumNews.com
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