ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Hilcorp Energy was again the only company to bid on tracts at Alaska’s annual Cook Inlet oil and gas lease sale.
The Houston-based independent producer is the only bidder for the second consecutive year, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday.
Hilcorp spent about $298,000 on eight lease tracts over 25 square miles (64 square kilometers), according to preliminary results from the Division of Oil and Gas.
Most of the leases are on the southern Kenai Peninsula in the Anchor Point area near the onshore Nikolaevsk and Deep Creek units.
Oil and Gas Director Chantal Walsh said those units are mostly for natural gas, but the company also bought tracts near BlueCrest Energy’s Cosmopolitan development on the shores of the Peninsula.
The near shore Cosmopolitan unit holds both oil and gas, but BlueCrest has focused on developing the oil resource first, the journal reported.
Hilcorp also acquired two more leases between the offshore Trading Bay and Kitchen Lights units in the middle Inlet, which is another area with both oil and gas potential.
“We’re excited that Hilcorp is still exploring in Cook Inlet,” Walsh said.
In 2017 Hilcorp spent $3.95 million on 20 tracts over both state and federal land in the basin.
The state’s 2016 Inlet lease sale drew no bids and industry representatives said that was due in large part to the state Legislature debating whether or not to end its oil and gas tax credit program for work in the basin at the time, which it did.
Companies used the credits to offset their exploration and development costs, the Alaska Journal of Commerce said.
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Information from: (Anchorage) Alaska Journal of Commerce, http://www.alaskajournal.com
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