Petroleum News by Alan Bailey.  Apache Alaska Corp. has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a wetlands permit for the construction of three gravel drilling pads and associated access roads in the northwestern Kenai Peninsula. The potential drilling sites are in Native owned land within….  Apache spokeswoman Lisa Parker told Petroleum News in a Dec. 19 email that, although Apache has not yet made a decision on whether to proceed with the drilling, the company is applying for permits, to ensure that the permitting process is completed in time for any drilling to proceed.

Reuters, by Jessica Resnick-Ault – Oil prices fell Friday, tumbling as the dollar strengthened and as a supply glut in top consumer, the United States, trumped worries about falling production from Libya.  The market had come under pressure from Wednesday's Energy Department report, which showed a 7.3 million-barrel rise in crude inventories to their highest December level on record. Analysts had expected a seasonal decline.  The slide was exacerbated as oil prices reacted to a strengthening dollar index.