In an Oct. 13 letter to Escopeta Oil, Bill Barron said the independent could continue drilling Kitchen Lights No. 1 with the Spartan 151 jack-up rig, as long as it was in compliance with all other state and federal agencies, including a successful test of its blowout preventer with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Barron is the director of the Division of Oil and Gas, part of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Escopeta Strategic Officer Steve Sutherlin said on Oct. 12 that the blowout test had been successful.
At that time Escopeta had reached a depth of 4,933 feet at the offshore Cook Inlet well, the approximate depth at which Barron had asked the company in a Sept. 2 letter to temporarily stop work in order to evaluate and determine “the reasonableness and prudence of moving forward with additional drilling.”
Barron did note in his Oct. 13 letter that Escopeta has to stop drilling into hydrocarbon formations by Oct. 31 per condition 7 of its Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan, which was approved in June by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
—Kay Cashman
ces from Randy Bates, deputy director of OPMP, the North Slope Borough had objected to certification of the exploration project under the ACMP (ASRC RTS is managing Shell’s offshore oil spill response arrangements). But OPMP found the proposed project to be consistent with the applicable ACMP policies.
“Based on an evaluation of your project, OPMP proposes to concur with your certification that the project is consistent with the ACMP,” Bates said.
