Danco wants rehearing on unit decision

Kay Cashman

Danco Inc., Monte Allen and George Kasper, M.D., filed applications late last month with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for a rehearing on the commission’s Dec. 3 decision against Danco and Monte Allen’s petition for an expansion of the North Cook Inlet unit to include two state leases in which Danco, Allen, Kasper and others hold an overriding royalty interest.

Danco and Allen claimed hydrocarbons from the two leases were being drained by the adjacent North Cook Inlet unit, which is operated by Phillips Alaska Inc. Phillips owns the working interest in the two leases and opposed including them in the unit.

On Jan. 3, in response to Danco and Kasper’s applications for a rehearing, the commission issued an order granting the rehearing because according to state statute if the commission fails to act within 10 days of the application, it is considered a refusal. Because of the large number of points raised by the applications and the holidays, the commission said it needed more time to consider the applications.

The commission will issue a “further decision on the applications for rehearing no later than Jan. 23,” the commission said.