Alaska – the gift that just keeps giving. DOI’s job: toilet cleaning or energy dominance?

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Alaskan gift that just keeps on giving
Katherine Schmidt, Upstream Online, January 10, 2019

There is a saying in oil and gas exploration — Big fields get bigger. That maxim has held true for Alaska’s BP-operated giant Prudhoe Bay, where more than 40 years after first oil the UK supermajor and its partners continue to turn over new chapters at what remains the most productive US oilfield in history. Those horizons include pioneering enhanced oil recovery techniques, consistent well work and an increasing focus on natural gas liquids, as well as potential gas sales through a proposed liquefied natural gas project. Prudhoe Bay was initially projected to produce 9.6 billion barrels of oil. But since then about 3 billion barrels more of fluid hydrocarbons have been extracted, when natural gas liquids are included, according to BP figures. “We’re at 12.6 billion [barrels] now, and I would say around 14 billion is looking like its potential,” says Scott Digert, BP’s resource development area manager for Greater Prudhoe Bay. That projection takes into consideration oil price economics and a production horizon through 2050.

Our Take: The work plan for Prudhoe Bay in 2019 means work for Alaska contractors: 35 wells and sidetracks, eight rig workovers and up to 500 “rate-adding well work jobs.”

Meyer out as president of Alaska gas line agency
Elwood Brehmer, Alaska Journal of Commerce, January 10, 2019

Keith Meyer is out as the president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. Meyer was dismissed from his position on Thursday and replaced on an interim basis by Joe Dubler, who is currently the executive vice president of finance and administration for the Cook Inlet Housing Authority. Dubler worked for AGDC as vice president of commercial operations under former President Dan Fauske, who resigned from the position at former Gov. Bill Walker’s request in November 2015 after the Legislature approved a buyout of TransCanada Corp.’s interest in the $43 billion Alaska LNG Project.

Our Take: Doug Smith’s election to Chairman of the Board is exciting. Alaskans were concerned about the lack of private sector involvement and China as a financing partner. Headlamp predicts that Smith will work to strengthen the links between AGDC, the private sector and the state departments working on the project. The expertise of the private sector companies in negotiating financial terms with China could go a long way in easing the fears of Alaskans.

Related:

Alaska shakes up LNG project leadership

Department of Interior’s Job: Trash Collection and Toilet Cleaning, or Lands Oversight and Energy Dominance?
Power the Future, January 9, 2019

As the stalemate over federal government funding and how to keep Americans safe from illegal immigration enters its third week, environmental extremists are erupting over the Department of Interior doing one of the essential items it is tasked with implementing. Environmental zealots are outraged that the Bureau of Land Management is moving ahead with public hearings on opening Alaska’s 1002 coastal plain inside of ANWR to drilling and development, even though many other activities of the Department are shut down. They beat their collective heads against the wall of reason, wondering why national parks garbage overflowing and a lack of rangers can have, service areas and tourist shops closed, while these hearings continue. The answer is simple: the people working through the shutdown to advance America’s energy priorities in Alaska are paid for by fees associated with the very jobs and processes they’re currently working on.

Related:

Trump administration responds to criticism about continued work on Arctic drilling during shutdown

Russian and Chinese Close Ties to US Environmental Groups