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Alaska players snap up North Slope leases



By Upstream staff 

Major energy companies and private investors won the rights to explore for oil and gas in one of the most promising areas of Alaska's North Slope region in a pair of lease sales held today.

The bidding focused on more than 200,000 acres of land and state-controlled waters bordering the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

"NPR-A is considered one of the most promising areas open today," said Bill Van Dyke, acting director of the Alaska Division of Oil & Gas.

Anadarko Petroleum, Alaska Venture Capital Group, Chevron, FEX, UltraStar Exploration and ConocoPhillips were among the companies that won exploration rights, preliminary results from the sale held by the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas showed.

Companies and investors bid $2.53 million to win rights to 44 onshore North Slope tracts and $684,723 to win rights to 13 offshore Beaufort Sea tracts, Reuters reported.

The bidding volume was light compared to a lease sale held in March offering exploration rights in the same core North Slope development areas, but the per-tract bid amount was similar to past sales.

The state's North Slope and Beaufort area-wide sales are normally held annually, but the division's leasing schedule was shuffled this year to expand the programme. The sale schedule will return to normal next year, according to the division.

For FEX, a subsidiary of Canada-based Talisman Energy, today's purchase of land to the south of existing oil fields marks the latest move in the company's push to snap up leases in Alaska.

FEX acquired a lease near Pump Station 2 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. The company already holds leases in the National Petroleum Reserve and in state territory in the Beaufort Sea, company officials said.


Wednesday, 25 October, 2006, 22:06 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 25 October, 2006, 22:06 GMT

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