State oil and gas officials are proposing to consolidate the Cook Inlet lease holdings of three small companies in the hopes of speeding development of the offshore leases.
The move would combine the leases of Pacific Energy Resources, Escopeta Oil and Renaissance Alaska into one unit with the goal of getting a well drilled by next summer.
The proposed unit would include the Kitchen unit, the Corsair unit and the proposed Northern Lights unit, as well as surrounding leases currently outside of unit boundaries.
Currently, those units and most of the surrounding leases are either in default or facing expiration because the operators have not met drilling commitments required by the state.
The three prospects sit along one geologic trend in the waters south of the village of Tyonek. All three prospects also require use of a special drilling rig called a jack-up.
The proposed unit would require the companies to start moving that rig to Alaska by March 15, 2009, to drill one well by June 30, 2009, and another by May 1, 2010.
“We hope they, as a group, will be able to accomplish the development objectives that none of them individually seem able to achieve,” Kevin Banks, acting director of the Division of Oil and Gas, said in a statement. “We are willing to give them a reasonable time to work out the deal amongst themselves. If they are unable to cooperate, the state will enforce the terms of their existing contracts with the state.”
The companies have until March 1, 2009, to agree to the proposal from the state.
Editor’s note: See full story in the Dec. 28 issue of Petroleum News, which will be available online Dec. 26.
