Buccaneer Alaska LLC has applied to form two units in Cook Inlet, the Southern Cross unit and the Northwest Cook Inlet unit. 
The company said in a July 27 release that it is working on permitting and aims to accelerate time to first production from its Cook Inlet acreage, possibly through access to an existing platform at the Southern Cross acreage and access to nearby infrastructure at North Cook Inlet. 
Buccaneer, a subsidiary of Sydney, Australia-based Buccaneer Energy, began acquiring leases in Cook Inlet early this year with a purchase of Stellar Oil and Gas acreage; it has since acquired acreage from other companies and at the state’s Cook Inlet areawide oil and gas lease sale in May. 
Southern Cross, which Buccaneer initially called North Middle Ground Shoal, includes five leases in Cook Inlet west of the producing South Granite Point unit, operated by Chevron subsidiary Union Oil Company of California, and the Kitchen Lights unit where exploration drilling is proposed by operator Escopeta. 
Northwest Cook Inlet includes six leases in an arc north and northeast of the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated North Cook Inlet unit, which produces gas from the Tyonek platform. 

See story in Aug. 1 issue, available to subscribers online at noon, Friday, July 30, at www.PetroleumNews.com