Nick SnowWashington Editor
Unresolved questions about federal oil and gas leasing in Alaska hasn't kept the state from moving ahead with its own sales. The oil and gas division within its Department of Natural Resources is preparing to offer state-owned land in the Beaufort Sea, on the North Slope, and in the North Slope foothills in October, it announced on June 9.
Terms are expected to include new conditions and options consistent with Gov. Sean Parnell's effort to boost oil development in the state. DNR intends to aggressively market its offerings, which include tracts bordering the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's 1002 Area, for the same reason, it indicated.
"Our offering of these tracts is in line with the Parnell administration's goal to increase Trans-Alaska Pipeline System throughput to 1 million b/d within a decade," said DNR Commissioner Daniel S. Sullivan. The strategy includes enhancing Alaska's global competitiveness, chiefly through oil-tax reforms and, as appropriate, new infrastructure projects and royalty relief; and ensuring there's an efficient, reliable permitting system.
Sullivan said Alaska recognizes that increased access to and production from federal lands will be essential, and the state has sought cooperation from Congress and the Obama administration.
It got a boost on June 9 as US House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) released the draft of a bill designed to facilitate federal oil and gas leasing within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The committee's Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee was scheduled to hold a June 16 hearing on the measure.
Bureaucratic delays
Hastings said Obama called for annual NPR-A lease sales in his May 14 weekly radio address. But leasing alone would have little impact if bureaucratic delays continue to hamper for years construction of necessary roads, bridges, and pipelines, he added.
He said his bill would require the US Department of the Interior, which assumed control of the NPR-A from the US Navy in 1981, to hold annual lease sales within the reserve in areas with the most oil and gas resources. It also would establish timelines for permits to be approved, including a 60-day deadlines for leases where the Interior secretary has issued a drilling permit and a 6-month timeframe for all other existing and future federal leases, he indicated.
The measure also would require the Interior secretary to provide a right-of-way plan detailing how existing and future leases will be within 25 miles of an approved road or pipeline; and require an updated comprehensive assessment, in consultation with the Alaskan state government and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, of all oil and gas resources within the NPR-A, Hastings said.
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