Hilcorp gets approval for Whiskey Gulch strat test plan
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas approved Hilcorp Alaska's lease plan of operations May 15 for the Whiskey Gulch stratigraphic well test program on the southern Kenai Peninsula near Anchor Point.
The program includes drilling up to five shallow stratigraphic test wells with a maximum depth of 600 feet each on state of Alaska subsurface lands and private surface lands.
The wells will be drilled using a truck-mounted air drilling unit at locations accessible from established roads. Upon completion and evaluation each well will be plugged and abandoned consistent with regulatory requirements.
Cuttings generated by drilling activities will be captured in a tank and transported to an approved disposal facility. Activities will begin immediately and may last until Aug. 5, 2020. The operations for each well will take approximately one to four days.
-KAY CASHMAN
Alyeska oil prorations eliminated
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said Jan. 3 that Williams Alaska Petroleum Inc. had an estimated 2,000 gallon spill of a mixture of kerosene and residual crude oil. The spill was discovered at 2:29 a.m. Jan. 3 at Williams refinery crude unit No. 1 at North Pole.
DEC said Williams was transferring off-spec kerosene from crude unit No. 1 to their "slop" tank for eventual reinjection into the trans-Alaska pipeline system. The high-point vent in a new line running to the slop tank was accidentally left open, causing the release.
Within 45 minutes of the spill, a vacuum truck collected approximately 1,500 gallons of the kerosene mixture pooled on the frozen ground. DEC said an excavator and hand tools were being used to recover the residual contamination.
A gravel pad and some grasses were affected. DEC said it will discuss a sampling plan with Williams as the immediate cleanup nears completion.
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