Aurora obtains permit for Hanna well

Aurora Gas has obtained an Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission permit to drill the Hanna No. 1 exploration well between Pretty Creek and Lewis River on the west side of Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The proposed well site is at section 22, township 14 north, range 9, west of the Seward meridian.

But Aurora has no immediate plans to drill the well and is still seeking a partner to help with the funding of the drilling, Aurora Gas President Scott G. Pfoff told Petroleum News Jan. 19. The company has obtained the permit in preparation for drilling once the project can be financed.

“Our intent is to have a deal to drill that well,” Pfoff said.

In November 2005 Aurora Gas signed an agreement with Trading Bay Oil and Gas to take a majority interest in the Hanna prospect. But Aurora postponed an initial plan to drill a Hanna well in 2006 and since then has been seeking an investor to pick up some of the drilling costs.

There is a relatively shallow gas prospect at Hanna, but there is also a deeper gas prospect and a deep oil prospect.

—Alan Bailey