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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
January 2014

Vol. 19, No. 3 Week of January 19, 2014

Ahtna seeks Copper River gas supplies

Native corporation looking for affordable energy for people in a region that has been losing population because of energy costs

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

Ahtna Corp., the Native regional corporation for Alaska’s Copper River valley region, has compiled an energy strategy and plan for its region, with a search for natural gas being part of the plan, Joe Bovee, Ahtna land and resource manager, told the Alaska Support Industry Alliance Meet Alaska conference on Jan. 10. Bovee said that the prime purpose of seeking natural gas is to establish an affordable source of energy for the region, although if a sufficiently large find were made it might also be possible to export gas from the region.

“Our primary focus is to lower utility costs for most consumers,” Bovee said.

In October Ahtna gained a state exploration license for gas exploration in 72 square miles of state land, west of the town of Glennallen. The corporation is currently reprocessing about 80 miles of existing 2-D seismic data for state land and anticipates acquiring a further 13 to 14 miles of new seismic data. The intent is to identify a potential well location in 2014, with a view to drilling a well in 2015 or 2016, Bovee said.

Loss of population

Bovee said that the region had lost 10 to 15 percent of its population in the last three to four years, that numerous schools had closed and that many restaurants and other businesses had closed because of the high cost of energy. Ahtna’s energy planning had found that energy-related data for the region was outdated but, more importantly, had identified the region’s people as the region’s most important resource, Bovee said.

If commercial quantities of gas cannot be found, the corporation anticipates importing liquefied natural gas into the region. Ahtna is in the process of preparing an application for an RCA certificate of public necessity and convenience to do that, Bovee said.

Gas potential

The Copper River basin, a broad area of sedimentary rock lying under the Copper River valley region, is thought to be gas prone. Its geology is similar to that of the prolific Cook Inlet basin to the southwest — in particular the Mesozoic strata of the basin are broadly equivalent to strata that have generated oil and gas in the Cook Inlet region.

The basin is one of six Interior basins that qualify for state exploration tax credits, Bovee said, commenting that the tax credits are essential to the funding of the Copper River gas exploration.

During the past 50 years or so 11 wells were drilled in the Copper River basin and all of these wells had gas shows, Bovee said, adding that 640 miles of 2-D seismic had been shot in the basin during the same period. The most recent of the wells was drilled between 2005 and 2007 by Rutter and Wilbanks near the town of Glennallen. Although this well found a gas reservoir, the drillers encountered severe unresolved difficulties resulting from excessive downhole pressures and the flow of water into the well.

Ahtna’s new exploration license encompasses land not far from the Rutter and Wilbanks well. The corporation is particularly interested in the gas potential of the Nelchina sands, a highly pressured, porous and permeable gas-bearing sandstone that occurs in faulted blocks over an area of roughly 120 square miles. The corporation has already reprocessed much of the existing seismic data that exists for this area — potential gas targets exist at depths ranging from 4,000 feet to 12,000 feet, Bovee said.

Other energy sources

The Ahtna energy plan also encompasses other possible energy sources. The corporation has erected 11 weather observation towers and has used these to identify two to three sites with commercial grade wind, Bovee said. One wind tower for power generation has been erected at Cantwell, on the south side of the Alaska Range. Weather observations have also indicated excellent residential solar power potential.

There are five hydroelectric projects in Ahtna’s region, including the planned massive Susitna-Watana dam, Bovee said.

There are some geothermal energy prospects near Glennallen and in the western portion of the Wrangell Mountains to the east. In particular, near Glennallen are some mud volcanoes, a rare phenomenon found worldwide only at Glennallen and at a location in South America — testing in the mud volcanoes has revealed temperatures of up to 300 F and the emission of methane at one spot, Bovee said.

The region also has an estimated 4 million tons of accessible biomass fuel, the equivalent of 300 million to 400 million gallons of fuel oil and, in principle, sufficient fuel to heat the region’s buildings for the next 150 years. But it would require much energy to dry the biomass material sufficiently for use as a fuel, Bovee said.






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