Kenai Loop wells not on SOA land, but only draining State's resources
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Kay Cashman Petroleum News
On April 15, a combined 11th plan of development and plan of operations for the Kenai Loop Gas Field on the northern Kenai Peninsula was filed by operator AIX Energy LLC with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas. The combined plans were effective for the period May 7, 2025, through May 6, 2026.
The plans were filed by Ronald C. Nutt, AIX chief operating officer, who said in the cover letter that AIX will "focus on aligning gas sales with field deliverability."
Petroleum News watched for an approval or denial from the division.
When none were forthcoming Petroleum News emailed Sean Clifton with DNR.
His response: "Since the Kenai Loop wells are not physically on the State of Alaska lease, but are only draining the State's resources, the lessee is not required to operate under an approved plan of development from DNR/DOG. They provide their annual plans for information only ... This is different from other lease operations, which have historically had wells drilled on state land."
Output and history The onshore Kenai Loop gas field produced 1.24 billion cubic feet in 2022, 736 million cubic feet in 2023, 725 million cubic feet in 2024, and 311 million cubic feet through the first half of 2025.
The large drop between 2022 and 2023 can be traced directly to the Kenai Loop 1-3 well, which scaled back production in December 2022 and was suspended in October 2023.
Since then, the Kenai Loop field has been producing from a single well: Kenai Loop 1-1, the field's discovery well.
Through the end of June 2025, the Kenai Loop field had produced 28.4 bcf, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. A Ralph E. Davis Associates Inc. report from the early 2010s estimated the field contained some 31.5 bcf of natural gas.
AIX Energy arrived in Alaska in early 2014 when it acquired Australian independent Buccaneer Energy's debt. In a subsequent bankruptcy auction later that year, following Buccaneer drilling an 11,000-foot dry hole, AIX acquired nearly all of the Buccaneer Energy assets in Alaska through a credit bid.
The acquisition made AIX Energy the operator of the Kenai Loop field.
AIX Energy quickly increased its leasehold nearly eight-fold to 8,882 acres in May 2016, up from 1,049 acres in April 2015 -- not counting Alaska Mental Health Trust leases.
AIX Energy marked 10 years in Alaska in 2024.
In its first decade in Alaska AIX Energy rarely conducted a development campaign, never drilled an exploration well, never farmed-out work and rarely traded assets. After an initial burst of acquisitions, it had rarely expanded its holdings. The private company doesn't issue press releases or hold investor conferences, preferring to speak through its required regulatory filings.
For 10-plus years now, the company has been steadily focused on one simple goal: maintaining production to meet contracted demand.
In fact, AIX has been more likely to shrink than expand. Since taking over the field in 2014, the company removed one well from service and forfeited two leases.
--KAY CASHMAN
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