The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas recently gave BlueCrest Energy Inc. permission to move forward with an oil development at the offshore Cook Inlet field. The state required the company to make several logistical changes to its program to satisfy local concerns.

The Texas-based independent intends to expand an existing gravel pad on private land north of Anchor Point to support as many as 33 wells. The program also includes an access road on private land and a water intake structure to be built on public land.

Although "all dates are approximate and may be altered by weather or logistical requirements," the program calls for drilling activities to begin this summer and run through 2020 and expects facility operations to last for some 30 years, into 2046.

BlueCrest expects to bring the field into production in early 2016 at approximately 5,000 barrels per day, which would increase to approximately 17,000 bpd within five years.

- ERIC LIDJI

See story in March 1 issue, available online Friday, Feb. 27 at www.PetroleumNews.com