Exxon Committed to Point Thomson Development

Looks like Exxon wants to get to work on Point Thomson.

According to Alaska production manager Craig Haymes,“Litigation is not what we want to do,” “We have a plan for development, and we want to settle.”

This Fairbanks News-Miner story by Rena Delbridge has more of Mr. Haymes' comments.

In other Exxon news -Exxon plans to built a Gas-To-Liquids in Nigeria.

What's all this mean? - ExxonMobil will invest and produce when the rates of return make sense.

Headed Back to Court

ExxonMobil is headed back to court over the recent Point Thomson ruling by the State of Alaska.


The rejection of Exxon's proposal triggered more work for lawyers and no work for engineers - enough said!

More commentary here.

A Detailed Look at the Point Thomson Decision

The Alaska Journal of Commerce has a detailed analysis of the recent decision of State Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin rejecting ExxonMobil's development plan for Point Thomson.

Here's a link to the decision.

This decision is key in understanding the relationship between the North Slope producers and State of Alaska.

Irwin's comments were not focused on the technical or economic details of plan. The comments seemed focused of a perception that Exxon would not keep it's end of the deal. It's a bad sign that the State cannot work with the producers and hammer out deals that put people work and get the gas flowing.

For the time being only lawyers are working on the Point Thomson project.

Point Thomson Plan Rejected - Again

"We can't risk continued delays in development." says Kevin Banks, director of the Department of Natural Resources oil and gas division, in this Dallas Morning New article.

So rather than approve the plan and start the work - The State is complaining that there is no commitment and they head back to court. Probably the most flawed logic on record.

These are the same folks that are making the Alaska Gas Pipeline decisions for the State - Wow. Here's the link to the news release by the state.

ExxonMobil plans to appeal this latest decision.