The state has approved a development program at the Cosmopolitan field.
The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas recently gave BlueCrest Energy Inc. permission to move forward with an oil development at the offshore Cook Inlet field. The state required the company to make several logistical changes to its program to satisfy local concerns.
The Texas-based independent intends to expand an existing gravel pad on private land north of Anchor Point to support as many as 33 wells. The program also includes an access road on private land and a water intake structure to be built on public land. The development program covers four leases: ADL 391903, ADL 391904, ADL 384403 and ADL 18790.
Blue Crest Energy also holds three other leases in the area: ADL 391899, ADL 391900 and ADL 391902.
The approval only covers the broad outline of the program. BlueCrest will still need to get other permits before it can proceed with specific components of the program, including Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission drilling permits for each well.
Although “all dates are approximate and may be altered by weather or logistical requirements,” the program calls for drilling activities to begin this summer and run through 2020 and expects facility operations to last for some 30 years, into 2046.
Offshore reservoir, onshore pad
The Cosmopolitan project is targeting an offshore reservoir from an onshore pad. The company previously outlined an initial five-year development program with 20 directional production wells, 10 directional water injection wells and as many as three onshore disposal wells using Parker rig 267 or an equivalent rig for drilling operations.
BlueCrest expects to bring the field into production in early 2016 at approximately 5,000 barrels per day, which would increase to approximately 17,000 bpd within five years.
The program calls for hiring an outside trucking company to deliver Cosmopolitan oil to the Tesoro refinery in Nikiski, some 72 miles to the north along the Sterling Highway, which expands a pilot project launched by previous operator Pioneer Natural Resources.
BlueCrest previously proposed a two-pronged development plan at Cosmopolitan, focusing on oil in the short-term and natural gas once it finds an economic option. The company has been in talks with WesPac Midstream LLC to develop the gas resource.
Some revisions
By the isolated standards of Alaska, the development is in a crowded area, which required BlueCrest to make some accommodations it might not otherwise have made.
After receiving public comments from at least one neighbor who was concerned that two proposed water wells might deplete area aquifers used by residents, BlueCrest agreed to reduce the scope of the program to a single well, which would only be “for emergency use for personnel safety purposes.” Instead, the company intends to deliver its freshwater supplies by truck until a reverse osmosis system can be economically implemented.
The company also agreed to modify its pad design to better accommodate a 500-foot setback from Stariski Creek and to construct an elevated berm around the perimeter of the pad to hide the pad, diminish noise and provide a third level of spill containment.
“In addition to constructing these berms as part of their plan, BlueCrest has corresponded with the owner of adjacent properties and discussed placing sound detection devices for ongoing monitoring of sound to determine if additional measures such as sound absorbing panels on top of the berm are warranted,” the state wrote in its decision. The company is also considering lighting solutions to impact nighttime disturbances.
The commenter said the company “addressed my three primary concerns satisfactorily.”
