Hilcorp Alaska has applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for an amendment to the plan of operations for the Ninilchik unit on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, to allow the company to drill a 12,000-foot exploratory well from the Susan Dionne pad in the unit.
Hilcorp spokeswoman Lori Nelson told Petroleum News in an April 9 email that the well will target oil, the first well for some considerable time to target oil rather than gas in the unit. There have been six oil exploration wells previously drilled in the unit, with one of these, a well drilled in 1978 at Clam Gulch, having minimal oil shows, Nelson said.
The Ninilchik unit currently holds a large natural gas field that was discovered in 1961.
Hilcorp anticipates mobilizing a rig to the Susan Dionne pad in June for the drilling, Nelson said.
—Alan Bailey

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