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ExxonMobil weighs Alaska options



By Upstream staff 

ExxonMobil boss Rex Tillerson said today he is "terribly disappointed" by the Alaska state government's decision to strip the supermajor of its licences in the Point Thomson region of the North Slope, adding the company is weighing up its next move.

On Tuesday, Juneau took the first step toward wresting control of the 106,000-acre oilfield, according to local press reports.

"We're terribly disappointed by that decision; it is inconsistent with everything that we have been talking to them about over the last two years of negotiating," Tillerson told reporters after a speech to the Boston College Chief Executives' Club.

"We have met all of the requirements of the state of Alaska in the many ways we drilled out there. We spent hundreds of millions of dollars at Point Thomson to appraise that resource, understand it and be able to make knowledgeable decisions about how to develop it.

"We're disappointed the Alaskan legislature chose not to approve the contracts that the governor's office negotiated with us, but this is just kind of doubly disappointing now. So we're going to have to evaluate it and see what our next steps are," he told Reuters.

Tillerson did not say what steps the supermajor is contemplating.

Last year the Alaska Department of Natural Resources found ExxonMobil and its partners to be in default of state lease terms, arguing that the company had not abided by a 2001 agreement to drill development wells by specific deadlines.

The field, just west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, holds 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and between 250 million to 300 million barrels of liquids, including natural gas condensates and oil.


Thursday, 30 November, 2006, 21:13 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 30 November, 2006, 21:14 GMT

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