Apache Alaska Corp. has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a wetlands permit for the construction of three gravel drilling pads and associated access roads in the northwestern Kenai Peninsula. The potential drilling sites are in Native owned land within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, close to the western coast of the peninsula, northeast of the Nikiski area.
Apache spokeswoman Lisa Parker told Petroleum News in a Dec. 19 email that, although Apache has not yet made a decision on whether to proceed with the drilling, the company is applying for permits, to ensure that the permitting process is completed in time for any drilling to proceed.
“Apache is applying for the necessary permits needed to allow for exploration of oil and gas,” Parker wrote. “While no decisions have been made it is critical to have all the permits in place.”
Tyonek Native Corp. owns the surface land and Cook Inlet Region Inc. owns the subsurface at the potential drilling sites, she said.
According to the permit application, if the drilling program moves ahead, Apache would construct a 7.45-mile, single-lane northern extension to the existing Kenai spur road, the road that runs northward from the city of Kenai along the coast and through Nikiski. A turnaround site at the end of the proposed road would allow for vehicle parking and equipment staging during exploratory operations.
The road design would include access to existing platted subdivision roads, the application says.
Road construction would probably take place during the winter, with construction access from an existing pipeline corridor or from a winter ice and snow road, the application says.
Three pads
Apache anticipates three gravel pads, each accessed by short roads built out from the end of the spur road extension. While the Kenai spur road extension would cross wetlands, the pads themselves would be in uplands, away from wetlands - they could be built without a Corps of Engineers permit, the application says. However, the application says that the drilling project would require several other permits, including a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service compatibility determination for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge; an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation oil spill prevention and contingency plan; and a Kenai Peninsula Borough road construction permit.
The fact that federal agencies are involved in some of the permitting will presumably trigger the need for a review of the proposed project under the National Environmental Policy Act, with the possible need to develop an environmental impact statement.
Apache has been conducting an extensive program of seismic surveying in the Cook Inlet basin and earlier this year started an onshore survey in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in the northern Kenai Peninsula. In 2012 and 2013 the company drilled an oil exploration well onshore the west side of the inlet, but met with disappointing results in that venture. Apache has said that it wants to use new, modern seismic data to identify new exploration targets in the basin.
