AOGCC allows small Kuparuk gas sales

State regulators will allow ConocoPhillips to sell up to 5 million cubic feet of gas per day from the Kuparuk River Unit.

On March 20, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission determined that the daily sales would “not meaningfully impact ultimate total oil production” from the Kuparuk River Oil Pool.

ConocoPhillips regularly makes small gas sales to the Kuparuk Transportation Co. and others, including the U.S. Air Force, but last year requested permission to sell up to 3 million cfpd to Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska Inc. ConocoPhillips later increased the request to 5 million cfpd.

ConocoPhillips has been making those sales on an approved “pilot program” for around four months while the AOGCC studied the long-term future impact of the sales.

The AOGCC decided the sale amount would represent only 0.39 percent of the annual production and 0.44 percent of the annual injection from the reservoir, both volumes considered “smaller than the margin of error for reservoir simulators.”

The AOGCC did not require ConocoPhillips to take additional steps to lessen the potential harm to oil recovery, but is requiring the company to continue “careful surveillance” of the field and to report gas sales annually.

—Eric Lidji