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Hilcorp lays out older inlet field plans Beluga River, Kenai, Swanson River units, 3 of Cook Inlet’s largest, on federal leases, units managed by Bureau of Land Management Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska is the largest operator in Cook Inlet, and the majority of fields it operates there are among the oldest producing fields in the state. Notable are Swanson River, the Cook Inlet discovery field, Beluga River and the Kenai gas field.
The fields are entirely or partially on federal leases and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. In plans of development and operations filed with BLM in March, Hilcorp described plans of keep these fields in production, illustrating work required at mature fields, which are a focus for Hilcorp both in Alaska and in the Lower 48.
Collectively the three fields accounted for more than 38% of Cook Inlet natural gas production reported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for May.
Swanson River The current POD is the 57th for the Swanson River unit and covers April 1 through March 31, 2022.
Swanson River, entirely on federal acreage in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, is the only field in this group to produce both oil and gas. Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission data for May, the most recent available, show oil and natural gas liquids production at Swanson averaged some 10.3% of inlet oil and NGL production in that month; Swanson natural gas production accounted for 9.5% of inlet gas production.
During 2020, Hilcorp told BLM, cumulative gas production from Swanson was 3,513 million standard cubic feet and cumulative oil production 326,000 barrels.
The company said that in 2020 various work on gas wells stemmed decline, including two successful perforation additions, one rig workover and one return to production of a long-term shut-in well which had been slated to be plugged and abandoned.
“The non-continuous Sterling B6U gas sand accessed in SRU 213-15 was mapped in SRU 12-15, providing a new future offtake point” in the field, Hilcorp said.
The company also had successful Tyonek G2 perforations in two oil wells and said a handful of wells with these oil zones would be perforated in 2021, including a well on the P&A list.
Also in 2020, a gas storage well was drilled to provide additional deliverability from the Tyonek 77-3 gas storage reservoir and Hilcorp said the plan is for that grassroots well is to serve only as a gas producer, although it could serve as a gas injector if needed in the future. A second gas storge well targeted the Tyonek 64-5 storage sand as an injector and producer.
The company did a number of workovers targeting shallow gas sands, including on two wells that were returned to service. Perforations were successfully added on one well, but on a second, perforations were unsuccessful.
“Hilcorp quantified remaining Sterling and Upper Beluga gas reserves in the North Block” of the field through a field study, identifying several perforation adding opportunities and an opportunity for a grassroots well.
In addition to work proposed in the 2020 POD, Hilcorp did a workover targeting gas sands at one well and planned a workover at another well which was pushed into the 2021 POD period “due to market conditions and other unforeseen factors.”
The company said it did not perform any P&A work during the 2020 POD.
“The wells shown on the P&A list for the 2020 POD have been reevaluated and it has been determined that these wells have future potential production. There are no plans to P&A any SRU wells at this time,” Hilcorp said.
The company also conducted routine facilities repairs and replacement.
For the 2021 POD Hilcorp said it has a new subsurface team in place and will continue to review the Swanson River unit “to identify remaining Sterling, Upper Beluga, and Tyonek gas in Blocks 3, 4, and 5; remaining oil reserves across the field in the Tyonek G-Zone; and potential oil prospects to target with CTD drilling.”
The company listed six workover opportunities - either planned or under review; it also plans routine facilities repair and replacement.
Kenai The gas-producing Kenai unit is currently Cook Inlet’s largest gas producer, accounting for 19.3% of Cook Inlet gas in May, the most recent month for which AOGCC data are available. The unit includes both state and federal acreage.
In the 63rd plan of development and operations for the unit, filed in March, operator Hilcorp Alaska summarized activities from the 2020 plan. Cumulative gas production from the Kenai unit was 13,712.2 million standard cubic feet from non-storage wells in the 2020 POD period, the company told BLM.
The company drilled the KU 24-32 wells into the Sterling formation and executed 28 workover projects. Ten wells were converted from shut-in to producing, with work including uphole recompletes, addition of perforations and rig workovers to existing wells.
During the 2020 POD the company upgraded the Kenai Gas field grind and inject facility.
The company drilled two grassroots wells not in the original drilling program - both targeted the Sterling formation.
In the 2021 POD Hilcorp said workovers planned include uphole recompletions, perforation additions and rig workovers. The company also plans routine facilities repairs and replacement, including 24-inch low-pressure and 20-inch medium pressure flowline installation, new compressor installations, a HVAC upgrade and 20-inch sales pig launcher/receiver installation.
Three idle wells are in the queue for 2021 or 2022 workovers, another two wells shown as likely recompletions and more than two dozen idle wells are listed as under evaluation.
Beluga River Hilcorp operates the Beluga River on behalf of itself and Chugach Electric Association. This field accounted for 9.6% of Cook Inlet gas production according to AOGCC data for May.
The unit includes both state and federal acreage.
In the 59th plan of development and operations, submitted to BLM in March, the company summarized results of the 58th POD, including three grassroots wells drilled with Rig 169 each targeting Sterling and Beluga sands: BRU 212-26 brought online Sept. 29; BRU 222-24 brought online Aug. 10; and BRU 241-34T brought online Sept. 26.
The company did three workovers, two with Hilcorp Rig 169 and the third with a coil tubing unit, with mixed results: one well was returned to production with an electric submissible pump but failed four months later; one well was recompleted and brought online; the third will had a coil ESP installed but failed almost immediately.
On the facility side, a small rental compressor was relocated to K Pad.
In the 2021 POD, Hilcorp said it anticipates drilling one grassroots well with Rig 147 targeting Sterling and Beluga gas sands.
No workovers with Rig 401 are anticipated, but through-tubing workovers are being evaluated and planned.
On the facilities side, the company plans to install produced water line tie-ins to D and F pads.
The company filed an amendment to the 2021 POD to drill from K Pad (see story on side of page 1 in this issue).
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