Free Republic

ExxonMobil is activating the powerful Nabors 27E drilling rig, for transportation by ice road in the coming winter to the company’s huge Point Thomson gas condensate field on the North Slope, company executives told Petroleum News Oct. 16. The rig will continue drilling operations that were started at the field several years ago. With up to 1,200 people and 70 Alaska companies involved in activities ranging from gravel laying to pipeline installation, field development has been moving steadily ahead, said Nathan Sanborn, project manager for the Point Thomson Initial Production System. The company has spent the last couple of years...

Hannity showed a preview of Sarah Palin’s new movie which focused on Alaska’s fight with Exxon over drilling. Apparently Exxon was trying to postpone drilling on land they had leased from the state and Alaska decided if they weren’t going to drill, they wanted the land back. Enjoy! http://www.therightscoop.com/preview-of-sarah-palins-new-movie/

This is a follow up to a commentary that I had written earlier on Red County. In the previous commentary I had pointed to former Governor Sarah Palin’s actions of denying Exxon their due process rights when Point Thomson leases were yanked from them. And then I compared her actions to the same actions taken by Hugo Chavez when Chavez yanked Exxon's leases in Venezuela. Since the posting of the commentary, former Governor Sarah Palin in her Facebook commentary seems to be taking credit for one oil well being drilled in Point Thomson.

Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin has authorized processing of permits, including an ice road permit, and drilling on two “conditionally reinstated” leases at Point Thomson, allowing ExxonMobil to move forward with drilling this winter. Irwin issued a conditional interim decision Jan. 27 in pending lease termination appeals for the Point Thomson area. For the conditional reinstatement of the two leases to become final, however, Irwin is requiring unconditional funding commitments for drilling the two wells for which conductor has been set and for production facilities necessary for “sustained commercial production and transportation of hydrocarbons from these two...

A partial truce was reached Tuesday in the bitter legal battle for control of a rich but dormant North Slope oil and gas field, as state officials reversed course and gave Exxon Mobil Corp. permission to proceed with a drilling campaign. Exxon and its partners had been on lockout status after regulators took away their leases on state land in the 106,201-acre Point Thomson field due to lack of development over three decades. Hoping to hang on to its leases, Exxon last year rolled out a plan to drill wells this winter and start producing by 2014 -- a plan...

All across America we could hear the reverberation from the Palin cheerleading squad, “Drill Baby Drill.” As our governor, and then vice presidential nominee, traveled across the nation, we could hear the echoes. Now, back at home, they seem oddly hollow. Government is often a dichotomy, and sometimes this is acutely painful. This is one of those times. Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin recently delivered a press release informing us of his decision to not grant a necessary permit to ExxonMobil allowing the company to continue its work developing the Point Thomson natural gas field on the...

State lawmakers want to understand why two energy companies ready to drill for natural gas have not received lease-related considerations from the state. The state's Department of Natural Resources addressed the issue with two House committees on Monday. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Escopeta Oil want to begin drilling on the North Slope and Cook Inlet, respectively, but have been blocked over lease disputes with the state. Escopeta's leases in Cook Inlet expire in a month; meanwhile DNR terminated the Point Thomson unit operated on behalf of several partners by Exxon Mobil. The issue: Is the state fostering development of Alaska...

More than 30 years ago, drillers made a spectacular discovery of oil and natural gas at a remote site called Point Thomson, along the Arctic coast of Alaska. Many observers figured the new field would soon add to the production from an even richer North Slope deposit, Prudhoe Bay, which started sending oil down the trans-Alaska pipeline the same year as the Point Thomson find, 1977. But it hasn't worked out that way. Point Thomson has been dormant all these years. The 106,201-acre field has no working wells. It hasn't produced a single barrel of oil or molecule of gas....

Exxon says old wells can be produced, just not optimal for reservoir development - - - - - ExxonMobil is continuing to develop its initial drilling plan for Point Thomson — although the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has terminated the unit and the leases — and that plan now includes nine wells, up from the initial five-well plan the company presented to DNR last year. Craig Haymes, ExxonMobil Production’s Alaska manager, said Jan. 12 that the additional wells reflect the continuous nature of drilling planned for Point Thomson, a high-pressure gas condensate reservoir adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - An antitrust lawsuit filed Monday against Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC claims the two oil giants are restricting the nation's supply of natural gas and keeping prices at record highs. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, says the two companies acted together to eliminate competition for the exploration, development and marketing of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to U.S. markets. "The only reason for them to collusively not to sell is to try to continue the scarcity that has driven natural gas prices to historic highs," said David Boies, the...