The Alaska Department of Natural Resources will hold its annual Cook Inlet and Alaska Peninsula areawide oil and gas lease sales on May 7 at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage. The Cook Inlet Areawide lease sale area is divided into 815 tracts ranging in size from 100 to 5,760 acres. The Alaska Peninsula Areawide lease sale area is divided into 1,047 tracts ranging in size from 1,280 to 5,760 acres. “Cook Inlet holds significant oil and gas resources and we are looking forward to a successful lease sale and the continued development of these resources,” said Division of Oil and Gas Director Bill Barron. Last year’s Cook Inlet lease sale was the third largest of its kind in nominal dollars and the sixth largest in acreage leased since the state’s area-wide lease sale program began in 1999, officials said (see Daily GPI, May 9, 2013). Bidders must be qualified by May 2 and bids must be received by May 5. Visit the department’s Division of Oil and Gas website for more information.

Edison Internationalmerchant power unit Edison Mission Energy’s (EME) reorganization plan was approved Tuesday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, including a Feb. 18 settlement agreement reached among EME, Edison International and certain of EME’s creditors. This approval allows the planned sale of substantially all of EME’s assets and stock of subsidiaries to Princeton, NJ-based NRG Energy Inc. Under the reorganization and settlement agreement, EME will emerge from bankruptcy free of liabilities and remain a subsidiary of Edison International, the Rosemead, CA-based holding company said. Once a high-flying global merchant power plant developer/operator tied to one of the top U.S. energy holding companies, EME spiraled into Chapter 11 bankruptcy two years ago (see Daily GPI, Dec. 19, 2012).