State taking comments on Paxton expansion

The state is taking comments on Hilcorp Alaska LLC’s plans to expand the Paxton pad.

The program would add some 1.25 acres to the production pad at the Ninilchik unit to accommodate appraisal wells and, pending success, potentially additional infrastructure.

Hilcorp plans to drill the 10,000-foot PAX-6 well this year and is permitting the PAX-7, PAX-8 and PAX-9 wells for the near future. If successful, the appraisal wells would be converted to producing wells and the pad augmented with expanded production infrastructure.

The work would begin this summer and continue through May 2019.

The Ninilchik unit sits along the coast of the southern Kenai Peninsula south of Kasilof.

The state is taking comments through May 30.

—Eric Lidji