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ExxonMobil gets Point Thomson reprieve



By Upstream staff 

ExxonMobil and its partners have been granted a last-minute one-month extension at the disputed Point Thomson natural gas field, after Alaska's Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin renewed the lease last night.

The state, in a process that began under former Governor Frank Murkowski and continues under Governor Sarah Palin, is trying to take back the field, the Anchorage Daily News reported today.

The matter is tied up in court as ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and other leaseholders fight to keep development rights on the land, which the state wants to lease again.

The state already has broken up the Point Thomson Unit, which was the structure binding all the leaseholdings together for potential development.

The leases themselves were to expire yesterday, but Irwin extended the expiration date to 26 April to give the majority leaseholder, ExxonMobil, and the other companies time to appeal, Dan Saddler, spokesman for the Department of Natural Resoures, told the newspaper.

Once the appeals are in, Irwin can take as long as he needs to review the materials, Saddler said.

Point Thomson is the North Slope's second-largest natural gas field after Prudhoe Bay, and state lawmakers have called it vital piece of any plan to develop a gas pipeline to the Lower 48 states.

The field holds an estimated 9 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than a quarter of the known gas in all North Slope fields.


Wednesday, 28 March, 2007, 10:50 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 28 March, 2007, 10:50 GMT

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