North Slope, Beaufort Sea sales draw bidders

Dec. 12, 2011
Alaska sold 178 tracts on the North Slope and 78 tracts in the Beaufort Sea at the 2011 areawide lease sale on Dec. 7.

Alaska sold 178 tracts on the North Slope and 78 tracts in the Beaufort Sea at the 2011 areawide lease sale on Dec. 7.

North Slope bidders paid a combined $14.1 million in high bids for 334,969 acres. Beaufort Sea bidders bid a total of $6.9 million for 281,095 acres. The Division of Oil & Gas anticipates several months of title work before tracts are officially awarded.

Royale Energy Inc., San Diego, bid on 87 North Slope tracts and won 60 for $2.7 million in total high bids on 100,480 acres east and west of the Sagavanirktok River/Trans-Alaska oil pipeline route and 20-22 miles south of supergiant Prudhoe Bay oil and gas field.

Next most active bidder was ConocoPhillips, which won all 34 of the tracts it bid at $2.6 million for 77,959 acres. Most of the tracts lie west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002A area.

Great Bear Petroleum LLC bid high on and won 32 tracts west of the Sag River/TAPS route, and Repsol E&P USA Inc. won 25 tracts mainly west-southwest of Prudhoe Bay.

Repsol placed the North Slope sale’s highest bid, $839,372.80 for Tract 1145, between the Kuparuk River Unit and the Colville River Delta. Pioneer Natural Resources Inc. placed the sale’s high bid per acre, $876/acre, for Tract 1154, the next block east of 1145.

High bid in the nearshore Beaufort Sea was $529,280 by AVCG LLC for Tract 286, 12 miles northwest of Deadhorse. High bid per acre was $876/acre by Pioneer Natural Resources for Tract 393, 17 miles northeast of Nuiqsut.

Daniel K. Donkel and Samuel H. Cade won 35 of 40 tracts bid for a combined $1.5 million for 94,000 acres lying from 32 miles west to 35 miles east of Prudhoe Bay waters.

Shell Offshore Inc. took all 18 tracts it bid totaling $2.6 million for 86,400 acres covering much of Harrison Bay.