Spanish company buys interest in North Slope leases
By Tim Bradner
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Repsol, the Spanish oil company, has purchased a major interest in a large block of onshore North Slope state oil and gas leases with plans for a substantial exploration program over the next few years.
“It’s a very positive development” for Alaska, said Jim Winegarner, lands vice president for Brooks Range Petroleum LLC, an Alaska-based independent company exploring acreage near where Repsol has purchased an interest in leases.
Repsol bought a 70 percent interest in a group of onshore leases now held by two Denver-based independents, Armstrong Oil and Gas and GMT Exploration, the company announced in a press release March 7.
Repsol has committed $768 million for exploration over the next several years on approximately 1,300 square miles of leases near large producing fields on the Slope, the company said.