Open Season for Nicolai Creek storage

Aurora Gas LLC is testing interest in its plan to provide third-party natural gas storage at its Nicolai Creek field by holding a nonbinding open season.

The open season, to run Aug. 4 through Aug. 21, is for 800 million cubic feet of firm storage capacity at the proposed natural gas storage facility at Nicolai Creek on the west side of Cook Inlet. Nicolai Creek was a producing gas field with one well in production as recently as January and Aurora plans another development well at the field this year.

A depleted reservoir will be used for the storage project and Aurora said that reservoir is capable of storing some 1 billion cubic feet of working gas with injection capacity of 50 million cubic feet per day and withdrawal capacity of 72 million cubic feet per day.

Subject to necessary regulatory approvals, the company said it expects to put the facility into service in the fall of 2010.

The offering consists of the entire 1 bcf of working gas capacity and 50 million cubic feet per day of injection and 72 million cubic feet per day of withdrawal capacity.

Nicolai Creek will be directly connected to the Cook Inlet Gas Gathering System.

“The strategic location of the Nicolai Creek in close proximity to Anchorage will provide customers with flexibility to augment peak winter gas supplies at reasonable prices,” the company said.

The storage project will be an open access intrastate project and required filings will be made to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. Nicolai Creek will be petitioning RCA for market-based ratemaking authority.

—Petroleum News