Ahtna, Doyon, NANA explore middle earth: frontier basins of the interior closer to development.

• Author: Bradner, Mike
• Position: OIL & GAS

Are the North Slope and Cook Inlet the only places where oil and gas will be discovered and produced? There are unexplored "frontier" basins in Interior and western Alaska. Will they remain unproductive? That could easily happen but for the leadership of Alaska Native regional corporations who are staking their own money in exploration of these high-risk areas.

Three of the corporations, Doyon Limited, of Fairbanks; Ahtna, Inc. in the Copper River region; and NANA Regional Corporation, in northwest Alaska own lands in and near large and essentially unexplored basins that could someday produce hydrocarbons for the benefit of local residents as well as out-of-state markets.

All three make no secret of the fact that they would like to have oil and gas companies as partners, and all three have had partners in their efforts--Ahtna is currently teaming with two independent oil and gas companies. However, it is tough to find oil and gas companies who are willing to take a flyer on rank "wildcat" prospects in remote, high-cost areas of Alaska.

Given the reality of that, Native corporations have stepped in with their own money, investing in geologic and seismic and, in Doyon's case, drilling. These are effort aimed "de-risking" prospects in these basins sufficient enough to land a partner, it is hoped.

Middle Earth Basins

Doyon and Ahtna are targeting prospects on state-owned lands, although both corporations also own lands that are nearby. Doyon is working on four hundred thousand acres of state oil and gas leases in the Nenana Basin about sixty miles west of Fairbanks. Ahtna is exploring on state lands west of Glennallen in the Copper River Basin under a state exploration license, an alternative state exploration program to conventional leasing.

Doyon completed new seismic work in the Nenana Basin last fall, and Ahtna was expected to have completed its seismic program in late December in an area west of Glennallen.

Meanwhile, NANA is interested in exploring its own lands in the Selawik Basin near Kotzebue and is working to secure an industry partner. There are no state-owned lands in the area.

The state of Alaska is supporting these efforts through its exploration licensing program, where large areas of state lands can be made available to explorers under an alternative to the state's traditional oil and gas leasing program.

Doyon began its efforts in the Nenana Basin under an exploration license and then converted to conventional oil and gas leases. Ahtna is still working under an exploration license. If discoveries are made, Ahtna and its partners will convert these to conventional leases.

The state also offers special tax credits and...