Wanted: Operator for Cook Inlet fields

The State of Alaska is looking for a contractor to come up with a longer-term solution for the Cook Inlet basin assets abandoned in bankruptcy proceedings by operator Pacific Energy Resources. Among those contacted by the state for a proposal was Gary Carlson, the former top executive for Forest Oil in Alaska, and executives with companies such as Ramshorn, Armstrong and Fairweather.

Two contractors, Peak Oilfield Service and Chumley’s, have begun winterizing the wells at the West McArthur River oil field and the West Foreland gas field on the west side of Cook Inlet, but Division of Oil and Gas official Alan Dennis, who is in charge of Pacific Energy’s former assets for the state, said the division released an RFP on Oct. 1, looking for a contractor to “basically finish the work we’ve started to winterize the assets and look after (all the assets that were operated by Pacific Energy) for a longer term.”

According to the state’s Request for Proposals, an emergency procurement, “the properties to be maintained and operated under this contract include the West McArthur River oil facility, West Foreland gas facility, Kustatan processing facility, Osprey oil platform, Mosquito Station and associated wells, roads and pipelines.”

The RFP, the purpose and title of which is “Preserve Abandoned Cook Inlet Facilities,” offers bidders three proposals, any combination of which would be considered, Dennis told Petroleum News. The RFP specifies that responses “must demonstrate the ability to perform all three scenarios” as well as having the ability to implement changes at the direction of the state project manager.

The scenarios are as follows: A. ice- cold shutdown; B. warm shutdown; C. “operating the oil field at West McArthur, as well as operating the gas field at West Foreland,” said Dennis. In all scenarios described in the RFP Redoubt and Kustatan would be in cold shutdown.

All of the oil wells at West McArthur are currently shut-in, that process completed by early September, Dennis said.

“One gas well is operational at West Foreland, to run a turbine at West McArthur River. We need the electricity it generates to do the freeze completion work,” he said.

Some, or parts, of the properties in the RFP are not on state land.

“No one else was going to do anything, so we stepped in to preserve the assets until an ultimate outcome is determined for them. While the owners decide what will happen, we’re making sure nothing is spilled on the ground,” Dennis said.

The RFP was sent to the following: Bill Penrose at Fairweather; Randy Frazier at FEPSI, or Fairweather E&P Services Inc.; Mark Nelson and John Lewis at ASRC Energy Services; Ben Cleveland at Peak; Cook Inlet Energy; Mark Landt at Renaissance; Ed Kerr and Ed Teng at Armstrong; Milton Allen at Udelhoven; Jordan “Digger” Smith with Ramshorn (partner in Brooks Range Petroleum); Paul Smith with Nabors; and Gary Carlson. No company name was listed for Carlson in the email that transmitted the RFP.

—Kay Cashman