Oil Patch Insider

Wadeen Hepworth

Welding starts on Lone Creek pipeline; Wiltse retires as state geologist; Kapper takes helm at Security Aviation

Aurora Gas LLC, operator at the Nicolai Creek field on the west side of Cook Inlet, expects to have Peak Oilfield Services welding pipe for its six mile, six inch, Lone Creek pipeline from its Lone Creek No. 1 discovery well to the Beluga line right after the first of the year, David Boelens, vice president of Aurora Well Service LLC, told PNA Dec. 31.

“We’ve been staging pipe through the fall,” he said. The company hopes to have the new pipeline complete sometime in the first half of this year.

Security Aviation founder dies; son takes helm

R. Michael “Mike” O’Neill, founder of Anchorage-based Security Aviation, died unexpectedly on Dec. 6.

O’Neill founded the company in 1985 in Anchorage, eventually expanding the air charter’s scope to Canada, Mexico and the Lower 48.

Plans were under way prior to O’Neill’s death to improve the firm’s jet capabilities, “enabling the charter company to serve the far Aleutian Islands and remote regions of North America,” a company spokesman told PNA.

Those plans and the company’s future, he said, will now be in the hands of O’Neill’s son and Security Aviation employee Stephen Joseph “Joe” Kapper.

Kapper, he said, “has previously owned and managed businesses of his own with much success.”

No other staff changes are planned, the company said.

DGGS to talk about 2002 North Slope field work

The energy resources group of the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys will present an open review of current projects immediately following the monthly noon luncheon meeting of the Alaska Geological Society Jan. 16 at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage. This will include a summary of the results of the summer 2002 North Slope field projects and a discussion of projects proposed for the 2003 field season.

Members of the energy group as well as DGGS Acting Director Rod Combellick will be in attendance. The meeting will probably last about two hours and project members will be available for informal discussions.

Wiltse retires as state geologist

Milt Wiltse retired as state geologist and director of DGGS effective Dec. 31.

His replacement has not yet been selected by the Murkowski administration, and in the interim, DGGS deputy director, Rod Combellick, will be acting director.