The lawyers recently won permission from the Alaska Supreme Court to postpone their filing of certain heavy legal briefs to make more time for what are described as "settlement talks."
The fight for control of Point Thomson is a heavyweight contest pitting the state against four giants: Exxon, BP, Chevron and Conoco Phillips.
The state and the companies have been at odds since 2005, when the Alaska Department of Natural Resources began taking steps to break up the Point Thomson unit and invalidate leases on the state-owned land. State officials contended that Exxon and the other major leaseholders had failed after decades to develop the field.
The companies sued to try to preserve the unit, and the matter is now before the state Supreme Court after the state appealed an unfavorable lower court ruling.
Point Thomson is a hugely valuable asset, containing an estimated 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas plus 200 million barrels of condensate. The oil companies simply cannot bear losing it.
Because Point Thomson holds about a quarter of all the North Slope's known gas reserves, it figures to play an important role in a natural gas pipeline project -- a multibillion-dollar economic development dream the state has long pursued.
To the extent the court battle places Point Thomson in limbo, gas pipeline proponents are hoping to see the litigation wrap up as soon as possible.
BREATHING ROOM
Although the state sought the Supreme Court review, its lawyers went to the high court on Aug. 19 and asked for an extension of the deadline to file their opening brief.
Richard Todd, an assistant attorney general representing the Department of Natural Resources, asked that the deadline be moved from Aug. 23 to Nov. 1.
In an affidavit, he explained that DNR wanted the extension "to facilitate ongoing settlement talks." Todd added that the extension "will enhance the chances of effecting settlement because the parties will be able to devote more time to settlement."
Todd and Mark Ashburn, a private attorney assisting DNR, further explained that the extension would free the two sides from "unnecessary expense." They said granting the extension would "promote the likelihood of the parties reaching a final resolution to this and other related matters, and will promote judicial economy."
The subject of the state's appeal is Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason's Jan. 11 reversal of DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin's termination of the Point Thomson unit. The state believes Gleason got it wrong and wants the Supreme Court justices to reverse her ruling.
Lawyers for the four oil companies agreed not to oppose a new deadline of Nov. 1 for the state to file its opening brief, provided the state agreed to give the oil companies until Feb. 9 to file their responding brief.
On Aug. 24, the Supreme Court granted the new timeline.
DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE
Exxon badly wants a resolution to the Point Thomson affair as it proceeds with a $1.3 billion project in a field under a legal cloud.
To show impatient state officials that, yes, it would get on with development, Exxon in early 2009 rallied the huge Nabors 27-E rig to the remote field, located along the Beaufort Sea coast some 60 miles east of Prudhoe Bay, and punched two wells.
The company aims to begin production of 10,000 barrels a day of gas condensate by year-end 2014.
Exxon was able to do the drilling only with permission from Irwin, who reinstated two leases to accommodate the work.
The state has declared that the remaining 29 leases within the disputed Point Thomson unit have expired. But the oil companies are fighting to keep these leases alive.
State officials have talked of reclaiming Point Thomson land and leasing it again.
