![]() ![]() “It’s still a long way to go before people understand how big this field is. Oil Search wants to drill a few more appraisal wells to get a better idea of how much oil it’s sitting on. Kuukpik, the village corporation for Nuiqsut, has spoken in favour of the development, but records from public meetings show that some in the community have concerns about the potential impacts. And everything has to be brought in on helicopters and Oil Search’s discussions with Nuiqsut, the community closest to the company’s first planned development are in their infancy. It’s remote, very mountainous, there are no roads. “Papua New Guinea is one of the most challenging places to work on. ![]() He said his company sees a lot of similarities between its home country and Alaska. “Gas projects as the state’s finding out right now often take many years to come to fruition, whereas oil projects are a lot quicker to market, so it’s very important for any company to have a balance between oil and gas,” Mr Wulff said. But gas makes up the bulk of what invested there is gas, so the company decided it needed to balance its portfolio. Oil Search operates all the producing oil fields in Papua New Guinea. ![]() “We see Alaska as a place of enormous opportunity,” Mr Wulff said. President of Oil Search Alaska, Keiran Wulff said the company’s first planned development in the field west of Prudhoe Bay could represent a significant investment in the range of $4 billion to $6 billion. Elwood Brehmer can be reached at email protected. Repsol remains a 49 working interest owner in the project. “Literally, if you line up the big fields up on the North Slope, this probably ranks third behind Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk,” Mack said. Oil Search bought into Pikka in the fall of 2017, when it agreed to an 850 million deal with then-operator Armstrong Energy and a silent minority owner to take a 51 stake in the project over two payment tranches. State Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Andy Mack said the Pikka Unit field alone could reverse the long-term decline in the amount of oil flowing down the trans-Alaska pipeline. The Spanish oil company Repsol continues to own a significant percentage. The company bought a significant stake in the project last year from its main partner, Denver-based Armstrong Oil and Gas, with an option to take over the rest of Armstrong’s stake. Oil Search, based in the country that’s just south of the equator and north of Australia, took over last week as operator of the Pikka Unit, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported last week Wednesday. A company based in Papua New Guinea has grabbed attention for its interest in what at least one Alaska official has called the state’s third-largest oil field. ![]()
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