Cross Timbers plans conversion of offshore wells to injection

There are no plans to open an office in Anchorage; company does not plan further acquisitions in Alaska this year

Tracy Wilson

PNA Staff Writer

Cross Timbers Oil Co. plans for this summer include putting $500,000 into well maintenance work on platforms A and C at the Middle Ground Shoal field, an offshore field west of Nikiski, said Thomas Vaughn, senior vice president of operations for Cross Timbers.

Vaughn also said the company plans an expansion of its waterflood on those two offshore platforms on the west side of the reservoir in summer 2000.

“What it would amount to is the conversion of several existing, producing wells to injection,” he said.

Engineering and geological studies are now in progress, Vaughn said, adding that a projected cost for the work has not yet been determined.

Cross Timbers has been operating in Alaska since Oct. 1, when it purchased platforms from Shell Oil Co. Shell got 2 million shares of Cross Timbers for those holdings.

Vaughn said the company does not plan any further acquisitions in the state this year and does not have immediate plans to open an office in Anchorage.

Cross Timbers now employs 28 people at its Nikiski field office.

In 1998, Cross Timbers Oil Co. brought in total revenues of $249 million, up from $198 million in 1997. Its expenses related to production rose from $43.5 million in 1997 to $63.1 million last year, while exploration expenses almost quadrupled, rising from $2 million in 1997 to $8 million last year. The company’s total expenses rose from $134.7 million in 1997 to $209 million in 1998.

The amount of Cross Timbers’ long-term debt almost doubled from 1997 to 1998, rising from $539 million to $921 million.