Oil companies get new Alaska exploration rights

Energy companies and private investors won the rights to explore for oil and gas in one of the most promising areas of Alaska’s North Slope region in a pair of lease sales held on Wednesday.

The bidding focused on more than 200,000 acres of land and state-controlled waters bordering the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a federally managed land unit on the western North Slope that is seen as a hot prospect for new oil finds.