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AOGCC approves CINGSA application Cannery Loop field storage injection approved; commission does require gas detection, alarm system in buildings above P&A’d well Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
In a Nov. 19 order the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission concluded that a proposal by Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska for a proposed Sterling C gas pool storage project at the Cannery Loop unit meets regulatory requirements. The commission did note that before CINGSA submits an application to drill, it needs to obtain a gas storage lease and assume operatorship of the proposed gas injection and storage reservoirs within the unit; any needed remediation on existing wells within the pool must be done before injection begins.
The storage project is also under review by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
The AOGCC application was opposed by Vincent Goddard of Kenai, who runs a fish processing business and testified at the commission’s Oct. 19-20 hearing.
The commission said Goddard’s “testimony included technical information in geology, geophysics and petroleum engineering,” but since Goddard lacked expertise in any of those technical areas, “his testimony on those matters lacks credibility.”
Goddard also presented an expert witness, John O. Robertson. The commission accepted Robertson as an expert in the area of petroleum engineering, but said the bulk of his testimony “was offered on the subject of geology and geophysics, areas in which he was not qualified as an expert.” The commission said Robertson’s testimony on geology and geophysics “lacks credibility.”
To the extent Robertson’s testimony “was in direct conflict with the testimony of experts offered by CINGSA,” the commission said it found “the testimony of the experts offered by CINGSA to be more credible than that offered by Dr. Robertson.”
Goddard’s seismic concerns Goddard said he was concerned about seismic activity in the area.
The commission said Cannery Loop and the nearby Kenai Gas field “have produced regularly since 1988 and 1962, respectively, and have not been affected by seismic activity.”
The nearest known active fault, the West Boundary Fault, is 16 miles from the proposed gas storage area. The Cannery Loop fault is some 2 miles from proposed gas storage surface facilities. “Planned wells do not intersect the Cannery Loop Fault and no fault rupture hazard exists,” the commission said.
The earthquake ground motion hazard at Cannery Loop “is similar to that of gas storage areas in southern California, western Washington and Oregon, where wells move with the surrounding oil and rock, and there is no differential displacement,” the commission said.
Remediation work The commission said that three wells at Cannery Loop require remedial work to isolate the Sterling C storage interval and remedial procedures will be developed jointly by CINGSA and Marathon, the Cannery Loop field operator. CINGSA anticipates acquiring the proposed Sterling C pool reservoir from Marathon, the commission said.
A 1964 exploratory well, KU 13-08, was plugged and abandoned, and the commission said its records show the well was left with a 4-foot standpipe and placard marking the abandoned location. The pipe and marker have since been cut off and plugged, and the well casing stub is buried below grade. The commission said that CINGSA has located what appears to be the buried casing through recent land and magnetometer surveying efforts.
The well is on the property which Goddard leases from the city of Kenai; Goddard’s fish processing facilities are located on the property.
The commission is requiring CINGSA to “install, operate and maintain a gas detection and alarm system in all buildings located within 50 feet of the surface location of well KU 13-08, unless prohibited from doing so by either the owner or the lessee of the land upon which KU 13-08 is located.”
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