|
Proposed unit off ANWR advances a bit Donkel Oil & Gas unit would take in seven leases covering 21,354 acres; unit application deemed ‘complete,’ ready for public comment Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
The proposed Donkel Oil & Gas unit offshore the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has moved one step closer to approval.
In a notice published May 24, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources said the unit application had been deemed “complete.”
The state Division of Oil and Gas will now take public comments on the proposed unit until June 30.
The unit formation will be approved if consistent with certain state statutes, the notice said.
Unit includes discovery well Donkel Oil & Gas LLC, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., applied in April for approval of the new unit.
The company’s managing partner, Daniel K. Donkel, is a longtime player in Alaska oil and gas lease sales and land deals.
The new unit would take in seven Beaufort Sea lease tracts covering 21,354 acres. The leases are offshore ANWR, not far east of the ExxonMobil-operated Point Thomson oil and gas field.
One lease takes in the Stinson No. 1 exploratory well that ARCO Alaska completed in 1990. Although the 16,156-foot well made a discovery, ARCO successor Phillips determined the reserves were insufficient to justify a standalone development and the acreage was dropped.
Dan Donkel and a partner, Samuel H. Cade, picked up the Stinson site in an October 2008 state lease sale.
Exploration plan Donkel Oil & Gas is proposing a four-year initial plan of exploration for the unit.
The plan calls for performing a 3-D geophysical exploration program by May 30, 2013.
By Aug. 31, 2015, Donkel pledges to drill an exploration well or re-enter the Stinson No. 1 well.
Under state law, a unit designation can serve to extend the life of old leases that otherwise would expire.
Five of the seven leases in the proposed Donkel Oil & Gas unit are due to expire on May 31, in which case the acreage would return to the state.
The lease with the now plugged and abandoned Stinson well, however, has an expiration date of Aug. 31, 2016.
| 