(Anchorage, AK) – The Department of Natural Resources will hold its annual Cook Inlet and Alaska Peninsula areawide oil and gas lease sales, as well as a competitive lease sale for geothermal resources on Augustine Island, on Wednesday, May 8, 2013. Bid opening will begin at 9 a.m. at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage.
Terms and conditions for the Cook Inlet and Alaska Peninsula oil and gas lease sales and the Augustine Island geothermal lease sale can be obtained in the "Headlines" section of the Division of Oil and Gas website at http://dog.dnr.alaska.gov. The Augustine Island lease sale is the fourth geothermal lease sale in state history. The last lease sale of this kind was held in 2008 for acreage on Mount Spurr.
The Cook Inlet lease sale includes 815 tracts encompassing approximately 4 million acres and the Alaska Peninsula lease sale includes 1,047 tracts covering 5.8 million acres. The Augustine Island geothermal sale includes 26 tracts on nearly 66,000 acres of state land.
In the past two years, the Cook Inlet hydrocarbon basin has seen a resurgence in investment by small, medium-sized and large energy companies. In an ongoing effort to encourage such investment in the inlet, the state offers competitive lease terms and some of the most favorable exploration credits and production tax incentives in the country.
"Cook Inlet still holds significant resources and we are hoping for a continued trend of successful lease sales and increased drilling activity," said Division of Oil and Gas Director Bill Barron.
Bidders must be qualified by 4 p.m., Friday, May 3, and bids must be received no later than 4 p.m. on Monday, May 6.
DNR press release