Forest hits gas in Alaska

Forest Oil Corp. said Feb. 16 that it has two successful gas wells onshore in the Cook Inlet area of Alaska, the 100 percent owned West Foreland No. 2 and the 30 percent owned Three Mile Creek Unit No. 1. Forest said the West Foreland No. 2 well was drilled up structure to the West Foreland No. 1 well and tested 15 million cubic feet of gas a day from two zones.

The Three Mile Creek Unit No. 1 exploration well flowed at a rate of 1 million cubic feet per day on initial testing from shallow Beluga intervals, Forest said. Additional testing will be completed this spring, once weather allows for the mobilization of a rig across Cook Inlet, the company said.

“These wells are the first of our new onshore gas focus in the Cook Inlet area,” said Craig Clark, Forest Oil president and chief executive office. “We enjoy a large acreage position surrounding these discoveries so we have a lot of running room. The Cook Inlet acreage is near existing infrastructure so the time and costs it takes to hook up to sales is minimal.”

Three Mile Creek is operated by Aurora Gas. The 8,080-acre unit is some 45 miles west of Anchorage and some seven miles north of the village of Tyonek. Aurora told the state of Alaska that the Three Mile Creek Unit No. 1 well will be drilled “on the same structure and up dip of the existing Superior Three Mile Creek No. 1” drilled in 1967. Gas reserves were bypassed “and developing these reserves from the optimal structural position is the purpose” of the Three Mile Creek well, Aurora told the state.