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BP fined for lack of testing at Milne well
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has fined BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. $11,500 because the company failed to complete a mechanical integrity test at the Milne Point unit SB G-19, the MPG-19 well.
The commission said in a Jan. 21 final decision and order that it issued a notice of proposed enforcement action to BP in November.
AOGCC regulations require testing of tubing/casing annulus mechanical integrity for injection wells prior to initiating injection, following well workovers which affect mechanical integrity and at least once every four years. It witnessed a test at the MPG-19 well on March 17, 2009, requiring a mechanical integrity test on or before March 17, 2013.
The commission said BP notified it in a Sept. 5 email that the MPG-19 was returned to injection Sept. 1, and that injection occurred Sept. 1, Sept. 2 and Sept. 3 before BP shut-in the well.
BP reported BP told Petroleum News in a Jan. 28 email that it “voluntarily reported this issue to the AOGCC.” The company said it is “pleased to resolve” the issue and “is focused on moving forward and operating in a safe, reliable and compliant manner to the benefit of Alaska.”
The commission said the penalty amount was based on BP’s “general history of satisfactory compliance and practices, an aquifer exemption for the MPU, the lack of actual or potential threat to public health or the environment, and BPXA’s immediate shut-in of the MPG-19 once BPXA determined the well was out of compliance.”
The commission said BP did not contest the enforcement action, paid the civil fine, “and established and implemented training and process protocols for employees and contractors governing injection operations and management of change.” It also said the new training and process protocols BP established were a “satisfactory effort to help prevent occurrence of this violation of failure to complete a Mechanical Integrity Test.”
—Kristen Nelson
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