Vision’s North Fork Unit POD approved

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

On Jan. 25 Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas notified Mark Landt of Gardes Holdings Inc. that the proposed 2023 North Fork Unit Plan of Development from Vision Operating LLC had been approved. The POD period runs from April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024.

The approval was signed by division Director Derek Nottingham.

The North Fork Unit, or NFU, was formed as a federal unit on May 27, 1965. Both the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management and the state of Alaska co-managed the NFU, which was originally comprised of two state and two federal oil and gas leases totaling 58,113.40 acres.

In 2006, BLM waived its administration rights and transferred its NFU leases to the state of Alaska.

North Fork was first brought online in 2011 by a Bill Armstrong joint venture, even though the field was first unitized by Standard Oil Co. of California in 1965.

Currently, the NFU is comprised of five state oil and gas leases totaling 2,601.84 acres, and one Participating Area, or PA, the NFU Gas Pool 1 PA, or GPA.

Bob Gardes of Lafayette, Louisiana, entered Alaska in September 2020, interested in bypassed gas.

On May 1, 2021, Gardes-owned Vision Operating took over as operator of the North Fork unit, which leases are held by another Gardes company, Vision Resources LLC.

Production from the NFU has averaged 3,129.12 thousand cubic feet of natural gas per day from Dec. 1, 2021, through November 2022, representing a 2% year over year increase.

During the 2023 POD period, Vision plans to maintain production and evaluate opportunities to increase production, including well workovers, additional perforations or drilling new wells.

Additionally, during the 2023 POD period, Vision will apply to expand the GPA.

New wells in the unit will depend on favorable economic conditions. If Vision determines economic conditions warrant drilling an additional well a POD amendment will be required for approval by the director before operations begin, the division’s decision said.

- KAY CASHMAN