Slope

Both chambers of the Republican-controlled Alaska Legislature passed a controversial oil tax reform bill on Monday and sent it to Gov. Bill Walker for his signature, but it was unclear whether he would sign it.

The oil price collapse has drawn more clouds over Alaska’s plans to commercialize its North Slope natural gas via liquefied natural gas (LNG) export. On Wednesday Gov. Bill Walker said the state and producers have more work ahead to hammer out project costs, and changes are expected.

A study commissioned by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the commercial aspects of the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project that the three major North Slope oil producers (ExxonMobil Corp., BP plc, ConocoPhillips and TransCanada Corp.) are pursuing says the state would benefit from having an equity stake in the pipeline and LNG project.

A total of 92 bids were entered in a pair of North Slope oil and gas lease sales in Anchorage Wednesday and the state netted $5.6 million, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said.

A wildfire along the Western Slope in Colorado south of Rangely in the Piceance Basin prompted Denver-based Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. to close 500 conventional natural gas wells in Rio Blanco County and evacuate an eight-worker plant. The shutdown was expected to continue at least through Friday, a Colorado-based Encana spokesperson told NGI.

Colorado state energy officials Thursday added new information surrounding a small hydrocarbon spill in the Parachute Creek area of the Western Slope. On Tuesday investigators focused on a valve box for a pipeline carrying natural gas liquids (NGL) away from a Williams Co. unit’s gas processing plant.

Colorado state energy officials Thursday night said a hydrocarbon spill in the Parachute Creek area of the Western Slope was essentially under control and there was no apparent impact on the creek, Todd Hartman, a Colorado Oil Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) spokesman told NGI.

The Pine Ridge fire along the Western Slope of Colorado tested the natural gas industry and required more than 10 wells to be shuttered in part of the Piceance Basin earlier this month (see NGI, July 9), but the response was effective, according to Encana Corp.’s David Grisso, who was the producer’s manager on the ground.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) pitched the U.S. ambassadors of Japan and South Korea on the benefits of importing natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope during a dinner at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC.