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….At 10.3 million acres, the tracts being offered for the lease sale in December represent about half of the 22.8-million-acre reserve…..

Oil and Gas has Been Good to Alaska, Providing Jobs and Revenue

Click to view facts and figures provided by AOGA: Alaska Oil and Gas Association

Armstrong Energy is asking the state to expand its prospective Pikka North Slope oil and gas unit, which the company already believes holds upwards of 1.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

The expansion application, submitted to the Department of Natural Resources Sept. 19, requests the department add 14,400 acres to Pikka in leases adjacent to the southern portion of the current unit.

Click to read the article on the Alaska Journal of Commerce.

Hilcorp Alaska has delivered a newly built drilling rig to the North Slope to support a proposed development known as Moose Pad that could produce at least 10,000 barrels of oil daily, a company executive said on Thursday.

The module rig, named Innovation, will support plans to drill 24 horizontal wells as part of the expansion at the Milne Point unit, said David Wilkins, senior vice president of Hilcorp Alaska.

Read the full article on ADN.com: Hilcorp delivers new rig.

ConocoPhillips has ordered a powerful new drilling rig that will surely crush long-distance drilling records in Alaska while allowing the company to unlock oil from a new field northwest of the Alpine development.

The company said it has signed a contract for the building of the rig with Doyon Drilling Inc., an Alaska Native corporation.

The rig will employ about 100 people during operations – 50 workers in two shifts – and support hundreds more jobs, such as contractors involved in transportation, drilling materials and logistics, ConocoPhillips said.

Read more at ADN.com: ConocoPhillips orders monster rig.

Caelus Energy says it has discovered an estimated 6 billion barrels of oil under its current state leaseholds in Smith Bay, an area southeast of Barrow. The company says the wider Smith Bay area could contain as much as 10 billion barrels of oil.

If financing is secured and environmental permits are issued, thousands of jobs could be created for engineers, field hands, truck drivers, camp managers and so on, Musselman said.

Both Caelus and the Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) say the discovery could represent a major game-changer for Alaska’s declining oil economy.

Read more at KTUU: Large, new oil field discovered.

The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas has approved a Plan of Operations for Hilcorp Alaska to develop a new pad outside Ninilchik to support natural gas drilling operations.

The most recent wells would be located in the Ninilchik Unit, on the west side of the Sterling Highway. Under the operational plan, the company will build the approximately 1.78-acre pad and drill wells directionally to target natural gas discovered offshore, according to the operational plan.

Read more on the Peninsula Clarion: Hilcorp plans new gas wells.

ConocoPhillips set a long-distance drilling record in Alaska with a 5-mile well at its CD5 field, where oil production has beat the original target by 25 percent. The record well, drilled by Doyon Rig 19, reached a depth of 7,400 feet, with a horizontal leg extending a little more than 3 miles. The well took 24 days to drill.

The longer wells can ultimately mean more oil production over longer periods, while reducing impacts to the environment, ConocoPhillips officials said in a statement announcing the record. More than 60 square miles of subsurface area can be reached from a single drilling pad.

Read more at ADN.com: ConocoPhillips well extends a record.

The Nenana Basin has been the first foray for the Fairbanks-based Alaska Native corporation into developing its own gas fields. It has long provided drilling and other services for other developments.

Aside from being a potential source of energy for the Interior, Doyon’s exploration is already a source of local jobs and investment for the area. The exploration directly employs about 150 people, whether it be oil and gas engineers or drivers, and another 40 businesses provide additional services for the exploration.

Read more on the Newsminer: The Voice of Interior Alaska.

Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) has joined Doyon, Limited in its exploration for fossil fuels in the Nenana Basin. Officials from both Alaska Native corporations expressed excitement for the partnership.

Doyon began drilling its third exploratory well June 1 about 50 miles southwest of Fairbanks, just west of the Nenana community. CIRI will take part in drilling the well, called Toghotthele No. 1.

The Fairbanks-based Doyon has been exploring the Nenana Basin for fossil fuels for more than a decade, and Ostbloom said engineers conducted more 2-D and 3-D testing over the winter. Data collected from Doyon’s second well has also been revealing.

Read more on the Newsminer: The Voice of Interior Alaska.