DNR terminates Cosmo unit and leases

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has terminated the Cosmopolitan unit. Unit operator Pioneer Natural Resources voluntarily relinquished the offshore Cook Inlet unit earlier this year after well results discouraged the Texas independent from pursuing development. The unit agreement required Pioneer to drill a well there by Jan. 31, 2011.

The DNR also terminated five state leases at the unit — ADL 384404, ADL 387102, ADL 389230, ADL 389525 and ADL 389526. Pioneer kept two other leases — ADL 18790 and ADL 384403 — held by wells certified of producing in paying quantities.

Pioneer must still submit a plan of development for those leases by March 1, 2012.

The DNR also noted that the unit termination does not relieve Pioneer from its obligations into the Cosmopolitan unit agreement and lease agreements to “remove all machinery, equipment, tools and materials, and to restore the surface of the lease area.”

—Eric Lidji