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AOGCC grants CINGSA rule change request
After expressing concern over possibility of gas leakage from an old P&A well, IFP fish plant failed to keep power to equipment Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has granted a request from Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska, CINGSA, to rescind a rule in the company’s storage injection order requiring gas detection equipment at the IFP fish plant.
CINGSA operates the Cannery Look unit Sterling C gas storage pool, AOGCC said in a June 14 order. In 1964 Unocal plugged and abandoned an exploratory well, Kenai Unit 13-8, KU 13-8. The well was plugged and abandoned in accordance with regulations at the time and left with a 4-foot standpipe and placard, the commission said, but CINGSA’s investigations found that the abandoned well marker has since been cut off and plugged and the well casing stub is buried below grade.
During an October 2010 hearing IFP objected to CINGSA’s gas storage injection project, and had questions, including the mechanical integrity of KU 13-8 because of its proximity to the IFP fish plant at Cannery Loop.
Rule 3 of Storage Injection Order 9A was a response to those objections.
The rule required CINGSA to “install, operate and maintain a gas detection and alarm system in all buildings located within 50 feet of the surface location of well KU 13-8, unless prohibited from doing so by either the owner or the lessee of the land upon which KU 13-08 is located,” the commission said.
CINGSA installed and has maintained gas detection equipment at IFP’s Cannery Loop fish plant since 2012, with the gas detection equipment continuously monitored remotely at the CINGSA Gas Storage Station.
No gas detected The commission said CINGSA reports that during the years the gas detection system has operated, it has never alarmed due to detection of natural gas, but alarms have occurred and when investigated it was determined they were the result of IFP shutting off power to the building housing the gas detection equipment.
“CINGSA’s ‘Inlet Fish Abnormal Operations Reports’ dating 2012 to 2022 provide details of responding to system faults and results of detector calibrations,” the commission said.
CINGSA attempted to contact IFP in late 2020 to resolve issues regarding gas detection equipment operation, but the company did not respond. CINGSA then notified IFP that it intended to seek relief from the gas detection requirement and offered an alternative method to ensure there is no gas release from KU 13-8. AOGCC said E&E Foods, parent company for IFP, was contacted in early 2022 with a draft copy of the request for relief to be filed with AOGCC.
The commission said neither company responded.
Commission’s conclusion The commission said the gas detection equipment requires electrical power to function and records indicate power has been frequently shut off or disconnected from the equipment, rendering the equipment non-functional and generating false alarms requiring CINGSA personnel to obtain access to the IFP buildings to investigate and reset the equipment.
“The shutting off of power to the buildings containing the required gas detection equipment at IFP’s fish plant is effectively prohibiting CINGSA from operating its gas detection equipment. That action is inconsistent with concerns about the mechanical integrity of KU 13-8 and the potential for gas releases,” the commission said.
AOGCC noted that CINGSA has made numerous efforts to resolve the issues around operation of the gas detection equipment. “IFP has declined to respond,” and both IFP and E&E, the parent company, received notice of CINGSA’s request that the commission rescind Rule 3, AOGCC said, and neither provided input about the application or requested a hearing.
“There has been no physical evidence provided to AOGCC supporting any claim that KU 13-8 lacks mechanical integrity and there is no evidence of gas leakage from the well.”
The commission rescinded the rule requiring the gas detection equipment.
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