Cook Inlet Energy LLC has lined up a drilling rig for use on its Osprey offshore platform in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

Parent company Miller Energy Resources Inc. of Tennessee today announced it has entered into a contract with Voorhees Equipment and Consulting Inc. of Houston for the custom construction and purchase of the rig for just over $17.9 million.

David Hall, chief executive of Anchorage-based Cook Inlet Energy, told Petroleum News the rig is being fashioned from new and used components.

“A tremendous amount of work went into identifying a manufacturer and designing a custom rig for the Osprey Platform,” Miller Energy chief executive Scott Boruff said in a press release. “Once in place, we will be able to initiate our aggressive offshore drilling program, as well as having the rig available for any routine maintenance or future repairs that are necessary.”

In recent days, Cook Inlet Energy restarted a well on Osprey, marking the first production from the platform since its financially troubled former owner idled it in mid-2009. The well is producing about 350 barrels a day.

The company is aiming, with more well workovers or drilling, to produce an additional 2,000 barrels per day gross from Osprey. The firm has been using a hydraulic snubbing unit for this work.

Osprey sits in the Redoubt unit and is the newest and southernmost platform in Cook Inlet.

See story in June 26 issue, available online at 11 a.m., Friday, June 24 at www.PetroleumNews.com