BP files for new unit southwest of Point Thomson

Kristen Nelson

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. has applied to the state to form a new unit southwest of Point Thomson. (See map on page A19.)

BP would be the unit operator at Slugger. Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and Phillips Alaska Inc. also hold interests in proposed unit, which covers approximately 79,058 acres and includes 14 state oil and gas leases, eight of which expire at the end of March. BP said the proposed unit “encompasses all or part of a potentially oil-bearing reservoir in the Kemik formation.”

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas said BP proposed a two-year initial unit plan of exploration. Working interest owners would reprocess and interpret a portion of the existing West Thomson 3-D seismic survey over the proposed unit and decide by June 15 if they will commit to drill a well in the unit area. If they decide to drill, a well must be completed, suspended or abandoned by June 15, 2003.

Failure to meet commitments in the exploration plan would result in automatic termination of the unit; lessees would surrender leases whose primary terms have expired; an unfulfilled drilling commitment would cost the working interest owners $300,000. BP has requested a five-year term for the unit agreement.