Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. essentially are hedging their bets in an exchange of Arctic properties that each company said would improve its chances to actually sell Far North natural gas. Through its Anadarko Canada Corp. subsidiary, the Houston independent acquired a 37.5% working interest in two MacKenzie Delta exploration licenses covering more than 530,000 acres. In a separate transaction, Alberta Energy's AEC Oil and Gas (USA) Inc. subsidiary acquired a 33.33% working interest in Anadarko's Alaska North Slope 3.1-million-acre lease in the Foothills region south of Prudhoe Bay. Anadarko will serve as operator there, with a 66.67% working interest. "Increasing our Canadian holdings in the MacKenzie Delta fits our long-term strategy of providing natural gas to North American markets," Anadarko chairman Robert J. Allison Jr. said. "We believe Arctic gas will find its way to Canadian and American consumers through one or more of the pipelines being proposed from Canada and Alaska. Because Anadarko also holds a significant acreage position on the Alaska North Slope, this purchase puts us in a better position to have gas available for delivery into whatever pipeline is ultimately built, whether from Alaska or Canada or both." Alberta Energy indicated that government estimates place the undiscovered gas potential for the onshore Mackenzie Delta and Alaskan foothills at up to 40 trillion cu. ft. Having exploration programs in both areas provide it with the potential to supply significant long-term gas volumes from the Northern frontiers, Alberta Energy president Gwyn Morgan said. Participating in both hydrocarbon regions also will put the company in a position to benefit whether Canadian Far North or Alaskan gas moves to markets first, he added. -Nick Snow