The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has scheduled three days of hearings in December to receive evidence relevant to "determination of an appropriate pooling and/or unitization of the Kenai Loop gas field, including which tracts are affected and an appropriate allocation of production to those tracts."
The commission began holding hearings on Kenai Loop issues in August of 2013, after Cook Inlet Region Inc. objected to a permit application filed by field operator Buccaneer Energy.
Buccaneer began producing from the field in January 2012, but has only been paying royalties to the Alaska Mental Health Trust.
In the course of AGOCC hearings there has been agreement by parties with oil and gas leases in the Kenai Loop area that production is occurring not only from the Mental Health Trust tract, but also from adjacent CIRI and state tracts.
Buccaneer filed for bankruptcy in late May.
AOGCC has authority to order pooling and/or unitization to protect correlative rights and prevent waste when operators and landowners are unable to reach a voluntary agreement.
The commission is requiring pre-filed testimony at least two weeks in advance of the hearing, which is scheduled for Dec. 3-5 at the commission's Anchorage office.
Witness lists are required a week in advance, and the commission said that if experts are utilized, they must be available to testify at the hearing.
- KRISTEN NELSON
