Alaska Oil and Gas Conversation Commission report: February 2017

•On Jan. 25, the AOGCC approved (Area Injection Order No. 24B.005 Amended) a request from BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. to amend an existing area injection order and continue water-alternating-gas injections at the Prudhoe Bay Unit No. L-105 well. A Mechanical Integrity Test in January convinced the AOGCC of the integrity of the well.

•On Feb. 14, the AOGCC approved (Area Injection Order No. 3B.006) a request from BP to continue water alternating gas injection on the Prudhoe Bay Unit No. Z-19A well.

BP operated the well with an outer annulus repressurization from May 2007 to December 2011 but shut-in the well after determining that it could no longer be managed by bleeds.

Outer annulus pressures have since stabilized. Subsequent analysis convinced the AOGCC that the well could operate safely. The AOGCC is requiring the company to submit the well for testing after injections are resumed and pressure stabilizes.

•On Feb. 14, as reported in the Feb. 19, 2017, issue of Petroleum News, the AOGCC fined the Glacier Oil & Gas Corp. subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy LLC $446,000 for violations related to drilling at the Sword No. 1 well at the West McArthur River unit.

•On Feb. 15, the AOGCC approved (Area Injection Order No. 3B.007) a request from BP to continue water only injections at the Prudhoe Bay Unit No. R-02 well. The company completed a cement packer squeeze in November 2016 to alleviate a tubing by inner annulus pressure communication. The well passed an integrity test in December. But in January, BP reported a potential Inner Annulus repressurization and started a new round of testing of the well. The tests convinced the AOGCC of the integrity of the well.

•On Feb. 16, the AOGCC approved (Area Injection Order No. 4G.004) a request from BP to continue water only injections at the Prudhoe Bay Unit No. 11-07 well. BP reported a potential inner annulus by outer annulus pressure communication in January 2017. But subsequent testing convinced the AOGCC of the integrity of the well.

•On Feb. 16, the AOGCC approved (Area Injection Order No. 4G.005) a request from BP to continue water alternating gas injection at the Prudhoe Bay Unit PTM P1-21 well.

BPXA reported a potential production casing leak in the well at 7,652 feet and performed a coil tubing cement job of the inner annulus in January 2017. The cement job, though, kept the well from meeting the requirement that an injection well be equipped with a packer set not more than 200 feet measured depth above the top of the perforations. The construction standard is less stringent when freshwater is not at risk of contamination.

BP passed two non-state witness tests, which convinced the AOGCC to allow injections to proceed. The company will complete additional tests after starting injections.

•On Feb. 22, the AOGCC approved (Area Injection Order No. 30.008) a request from ConocoPhillips to continue water injections at the Colville River Unit CD3-108 well.

The company reported a potential Tubing by Inner Annulus pressure communication on Dec. 31, 2016, while the well was on miscible gas injection. A mechanical integrity test and water alternating gas trial convinced the AOGCC of the integrity of the well.

•On Feb. 28, the AOGGC approved (Docket OTH-16-013, Other Order 115) a request from Cook Inlet Energy to use multiphase flow meters at the West McArthur River unit and the Redoubt unit, as part of efforts to decommission the West McArthur River unit processing facility and shift activity in the area to the Kustatan Production Facility.

•The AOGCC has tentatively scheduled a meeting for March 14 to consider a request from ConocoPhillips to expand Conservation Order 443B and Area Injection Order 18C to allow for the westward expansion of the Nanuq Kuparuk sands at the Alpine Oil Pool.

•The AOGCC has tentatively scheduled a meeting for April 6 to consider a request from Furie Operating Alaska Inc. for an exemption from spacing requirements to drill the Kitchen Lights Unit No. A-4 natural gas development well at the Kitchen Lights unit.

- ERIC LIDJI