BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. has joined the partnership ofAnadarko Petroleum Corp. and Alberta Energy Company Ltd. in anexploration venture on more than three million acres of thefoothills region. The three have already begun work in the firstNorth Slope exploration plan focused on natural gas recovery, anarea with reserves of 35 Tcf.

Under terms of the agreement, BP acquired a one-third interestin Anadarko’s three-year-old agreement with Arctic Slope RegionalCorp., an Inupiat Eskimo group, for an undisclosed amount. Inexchange, BP will give Anadarko an interest in a satellite prospectlocated near Prudhoe Bay as well as an interest in some seismicsurveys conducted on the North Slope.

BP also will buy for an undisclosed amount a third interest inexploration rights to nearly 230,000 acres of state lands on the NorthSlope leased last November by Anadarko and AEC (see Daily GPI, Sept. 1, 2000).

“We see a lot of potential there to help meet the increasingdemand for natural gas in the Lower 48,” said Anadarko COO John N.Seitz, and noted that BP already was a “major producer on theSlope.” No timetable was released on when additional explorationand production would begin.

Several seismic surveys have already begun, with Anadarko asoperator and each company holding a one-third interest in the jointprogram. The territory is in the foothills area of the Brooks Rangeregion of the North Slope, south of the existing producers’ fields.It stretches east to west for about 250 miles from the ColvilleRiver to the Canning River.

Several Calgary-based producers, including AEC Oil & Gas (USA),also are teaming up in various ventures to explore areas of Alaska’sNorth Slope (see Daily GPI, Aug. 7,2000). AEC farmed into a drilling play on land and offshore inshallow waters near the Prudhoe Bay oilfield. AEC’s agreement withPhillips Alaska and Chevron U.S.A. covers about 220 square miles ofhunting grounds, including McCovey offshore and Grizzly Gomo on theNorth Slope.

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