Alaska Oil and Gas Conversation Commission report: October 2016

•On Sept. 30, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved (Area Injection Order No. 3B.005) continuing water injections at the Prudhoe Bay Unit P-06B well. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. reported a potential Inner Annulus repressurization. Monitoring and diagnostics convinced the AOGCC of the integrity for water injection.

•On Oct. 12, as reported in the Oct. 23 edition of Petroleum News, the AOGGC approved (Other Order No. 112) a request from ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. for waivers to certain metering requirements for facilities at the Greater Mooses Tooth unit. The commission also tentatively scheduled a Nov. 17 hearing for the related allocation factor.

•On Oct. 19, the AOGCC revoked and replaced (Disposal Injection Order No. 34B) Disposal Injection Order 34 and Disposal Injection Order 34A to allow for commercial waste disposal injections in the Kenai Unit No. 12-17 well. Hilcorp Alaska LLC made the request earlier this year, building upon work from its predecessor Marathon Oil Corp.

•On Oct. 20, the AOGGC released an Industry Guidance Bulletin (No. 16-001) that “strongly encouraged” operators to schedule a preliminary meeting with commission staff before permitting exploration wells. “The purpose of the meeting is to provide an overview of the project with an eye toward avoidance of regulatory issues that could cause costly delays,” Commissioner Cathy Foerster wrote. The AOGCC recommends that operators meet with commission staff six months before spudding an onshore exploratory well and nine to 12 months before spudding an offshore exploratory well.

•On Oct. 20, as reported in the Oct. 30 edition of Petroleum News, the AOGCC fined (Other Order 113) Hilcorp Alaska $30,000 for failure to submit meter reports for the Bartolowits Pad at the Ninilchik Unit from August 2014 through December 2015.

•On Oct. 25, the AOGCC approved (Conservation Order No. 462.006) a request from Hilcorp Alaska, LLC for a waiver of spacing requirements at the Duck Island Unit.

The waiver allows Hilcorp to complete the Duck Island Unit SDI 4-10A well within 1,000 feet of the existing Duck Island Unit SDI 3-07A well. The AOGCC determined that the completion work would enhance recovery from the field without promoting waste or jeopardizing correlative rights, “The information submitted by Hilcorp indicates that the upper subzones of the Endicott Oil Pool are discontinuous, unpredictable, and often drain areas of about 40 acres or less,” the commissioners wrote in their ruling.

•On Oct. 26, the AOGCC approved (Area Injection Order No. 2C.040) a request from ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. to continue water injections at the Kuparuk River Unit No. 3G-24. The company had reported “a potential Tubing (T) x Inner Annulus (IA) pressure communication” at the well on July 28, 2016, while injecting natural gas. The company alternated to water injecting gas without showing signs of pressure communication.

•On Oct. 27, the AOGCC released its schedule of public meetings for 2017. The commission is currently scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. on Jan. 4, Feb. 1, March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, Aug. 2, 2017, Sept. 6, Oct. 4, Nov. 1 and Dec. 6, 2017.

•The AOGCC will hold a hearing on Nov. 10 to take testimony and comments from the public about the on the final calculation of the fiscal year 2017 regulatory cost charges.

•Hilcorp Alaska LLC has applied for pool rules at the Northstar Kuparuk Oil Pool at the Northstar Unit. The AOGCC has scheduled a hearing on the matter for Nov. 15.

•The AOGCC will hold a meeting on Dec. 15 to consider a request from Cook Inletkeeper Executive Director Bob Shavelson to require a public hearing whenever operators are permitting hydraulically fracture operations for wells workovers.

- ERIC LIDJI