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Hilcorp applies for Red Pad facilities
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
As part of its move to produce natural gas from the Red No. 1 well in the Nikolaevsk unit online, Hilcorp Alaska LLC has applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, for a unit plan of operations for a gas production facility on Red Pad.
Alaska Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Semco Energy, applied to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska in mid-September to expand its service area to include a new 10-mile line connecting the Red Pad to APC’s Anchor Point Pipe Line (see story in Sept. 30 issue of Petroleum News).
APC requested expedited consideration and a decision from the commission by Nov. 30 so that the pipeline could be in service by the end of the year to supply natural gas to Southcentral for the upcoming winter season.
Existing gravel In its September application to the division Hilcorp said work would take place from the existing gravel pad and access road built by Chevron subsidiary Union Oil Company of California, which drilled the Red No. 1 and Red No. 2 wells at Red Pad in 2004.
The Nikolaevsk unit leases were transferred to Hilcorp Jan. 1, 2012, and Hilcorp told the division it is moving toward production for the Red. No. 1 well (the Red No. 2 was a dry hole).
Hilcorp said the pad and access road “are sufficiently sized to support the proposed production facilities.”
The proposed project schedule includes site preparation in October and module, equipment and piping installation from mid-October through Dec. 1.
Hilcorp projects that production would begin Dec. 1 and potential future drilling could occur from 2013 through 2018.
Hilcorp said the Red No. 1 well is ready to be placed into production and said “no drilling will be needed to bring the well online.”
“Although not currently planned, Hilcorp may drill additional wells or sidetrack from existing wells in the future to further develop gas reserves,” the company said in its plan of operations.
Hilcorp said no camp facilities would be established on the pad; workers will travel to the site on a daily basis.
The company also said that no fuel or hazardous substances will be stored at the site.
Once work is completed, the site will not be continuously manned “but a facility operator will conduct a site visit on a routine basis, likely daily.”
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