AOGCC waves valve, gauge requirement for old gas wells

Petroleum News

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said Oct. 4 that it is waiving a requirement for valves and gauges on tubing and all well annuli in the Beaver Creek, Kenai and Sterling gas fields on the Kenai Peninsula in Southcentral Alaska.

The commission said a field inspection found that a number of wellheads in the Marathon Oil Co.-operated gas fields were not equipped with valves and gauges on all well annuli, and were thus not in compliance with the commission’s regulations.

Marathon applied for waivers in August.

The commission said in its findings that these gas fields are mature and reservoir pressures have declined substantially since production began, with current well pressures low relative to other Alaska fields, ranging from a minimum surface pressure of approximately 100 pounds per square inch to a maximum of approximately 1,000 psi at the Kenai gas field. The range for the Beaver Creek field is 800 psi to 1,500 psi. The commission did not list well pressures for Sterling.

The commission concluded that low pressure on the inner annulus “means that there is little risk of over pressuring the outer annulus,” and said the well tubulars “are of sufficient burst pressure rating to contain the full range of reasonably anticipated well pressures.” It also noted that the wellheads of many of these wells were installed in cellars below ground level, “making access to the outer annulus difficult and somewhat hazardous.”

The commission did say that where appropriate, as part of future well workovers, it “may require Marathon to retrofit” the wells with valves and gauges.