Buccaneer applies for two Cook Inlet units
Buccaneer Alaska LLC has applied to form two units in Cook Inlet, the Southern Cross unit and the Northwest Cook Inlet unit.
The company said in a July 27 release that it is working on permitting and aims to accelerate time to first production from its Cook Inlet acreage, possibly through access to an existing platform at the Southern Cross acreage and access to nearby infrastructure at North Cook Inlet.
Buccaneer, a subsidiary of Sydney, Australia-based Buccaneer Energy, began acquiring leases in Cook Inlet early this year with a purchase of Stellar Oil and Gas acreage; it has since acquired acreage from other companies and at the state’s Cook Inlet areawide oil and gas lease sale in May.
Southern Cross, which Buccaneer initially called North Middle Ground Shoal, includes five leases in Cook Inlet west of the producing South Granite Point unit, operated by Chevron subsidiary Union Oil Company of California, and the Kitchen Lights unit where exploration drilling is proposed by operator Escopeta.
Northwest Cook Inlet includes six leases in an arc north and northeast of the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated North Cook Inlet unit, which produces gas from the Tyonek platform.
See story in Aug. 1 issue, available to subscribers online at noon, Friday, July 30, at www.PetroleumNews.com
BLM begins new NPR-A planning effort
Enstar Natural Gas Co. has asked the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to approve a change in the terms of the utility's gas supply agreement with Furie Operating Alaska, to accommodate a delay in the completion of the third well in Furie's Kitchen Lights gas field. The agreement originally required Furie to complete a third well in the field by the end of 2016, to demonstrate Furie's ability to meet the gas supply commitments in the agreement. But following a delay in the drilling, Enstar agreed to extend the deadline to July 31, 2017.
However, Furie did not manage to complete the well by that July deadline: Enstar has now agreed to extend the deadline to July 31, 2018, but needs RCA approval of the change. The new agreement requires Enstar to provide proof of an alternative source of supply from a viable Cook Inlet producer, should Furie be unable to fully meet its contractual obligations with Enstar. And, under the terms of the original agreement, Furie's failure to meet the drilling deadline has triggered a drop in the price of gas in the contract, Enstar says.
- ALAN BAILEY
See stories in Oct. 1 issue of Petroleum News, available online Friday, Sept. 29 at www.PetroleumNews.com
Wainwright.
|
