Pioneer Natural Resources said today that its Alaska subsidiary has signed an agreement with ConocoPhillips Alaska to acquire up to 50 percent working interest and potentially assume operatorship of the Cosmopolitan unit in Cook Inlet offshore the lower Kenai Peninsula.
Three wells and a sidetrack have been drilled in the unit, Pioneer said, “establishing a significant oil column.” A 3-D seismic survey will be shot later this year to refine the estimate of recoverable reserves.
Pioneer acquired a 10 percent working interest in the unit from ConocoPhillips earlier this year, along with “the option to acquire up to an additional 40 percent working interest and possibly succeed ConocoPhillips as operator of the unit after the new 3-D seismic data has been acquired and interpreted,” Pioneer said in an Aug. 1 press release. Pioneer said it would pay “a disproportionate share of the seismic acquisition and processing in exchange for the 10 percent working interest and option.” The new 3-D survey is expected to be completed this November.
Pioneer said the option gives it the right to acquire up to an additional 40 percent working interest and potentially become the unit operator “by paying cash or a disproportionate share of ConocoPhillips’ future costs.”and a familiar face to many people in the state, will retire in September 2010.
“Fox was among the first Shell employees to be part of the leadership team when Shell re-entered Alaska in 2005,” Smith said. “He and his wife, Cyndie, plan to remain in Alaska.”
