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$10.9 million, 7 bidders at 3 North Slope areawide lease sales
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The state drew an estimated $10.9 million in high bids from established and new entrants at three northern areawide lease sales -- the Beaufort Sea, North Slope and North Slope Foothills -- with results from online bidding announced Dec. 11.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas said this was the highest amount from fall sales since 2018.
The Beaufort Sea areawide topped the list for high bonus bids at $6.164 million for 20 leases with four bidders -- three with existing lease positions and one new entrant -- for a total of 86,452 acres.
The total of high bids in the North Slope areawide was $4.764 million on 56 leases from three bidders -- two with existing lease positions and one new player -- 97,403 acres.
And the North Slope Foothills areawide drew one bidder for a single tract at $1,200, in what the division said was the first bid in a decade in this sale area.
"It is extremely promising to see new bidders and competition in this latest lease sale, especially as so many highly prospective areas are already under lease and being actively explored," said DNR Commissioner John Boyle. "We need to do everything in our power to support these newly leased areas becoming exploration prospects, future discoveries, and potential development opportunities that will support Alaskans for generations to come."
Beaufort Sea The one sale area with competition was the Beaufort, 33 bids on 20 tracts, with newcomer Juneau Oil & Gas LLC having high bids on 12 of 18 tracts for $2.531 million and EE Partners Corp. having high bids on six of 13 tracts for $3.470 million.
The competition between these two bidders was for leases in Harrison Bay, with two others taking single tracts with no competition.
Houston-based Juneau Oil & Gas, registered in Alaska in October, has 12 members, with ownership ranging from 25.75% to 1.21%. Brad Juneau is the named manager and holds the 25.75% interest.
According to the company's website it "was formed to assemble and focus a world class team of professionals for the purpose of exploring the shallow waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to discover and produce new oil and gas fields." The company's existing leases are in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dallas-based EE Partners Corp. holds some 22,898 acres in Harrison Bay and is a partner with unit operator Narwhal LLC in the Narwhal unit. The 18 Harrison Bay leases up for grabs in this sale are those relinquished by Shell, when it voluntarily surrendered the West Harrison Bay unit this summer. The Narwhal unit curves around the leases offered in this sale on the seaward side.
Lagniappe Alaska, which holds some 119,291 acres on the Slope, took a tract north of its existing acreage for $86,809 while Savant Alaska, a Glacier Oil and Gas company and the Badami unit operator, took a lease on the northwest edge of its existing acreage for $76,113.
North Slope, Foothills Houston-based Surprise Valley Resources, which registered to do business in Alaska early in December, says on its website that it "is a devoted energy industry partner focused on efficient and organized leasehold acquisition and data collection for expedient asset development."
The company was the sole bidder on a block of 41 leases, 59,040 acres, east of Alkaid, Talitha and Toolik River, bidding a total of $3.542 million.
Lagniappe Alaska took 11 tracts, 28,160 acres, for $941,260, filling in east of their already substantial acreage position on the eastern North Slope.
Captivate Energy Alaska, a wholly owned subsidiary of 88 Energy, took four tracts adjacent to its existing Project Leonis leases, some 10,203 acres, for $280,582. This acreage is west of the Dalton Highway south of Prudhoe.
The single North Slope Foothills tract was taken by Teresa Gouch for $1,200 for the 240 acres at the border with NPR-A, southwest of Umiat.
--KRISTEN NELSON
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