Marathon applies to expand pad at Kenai gas field, will add four wells

Kristen Nelson, PNA editor-in-chief

Marathon Oil Co. has applied to expand an existing pad, Kenai gas field pad 41-7, to support four additional gas wells. Marathon told the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that while the Kenai gas field has been producing gas since 1961, and is a mature field, "Marathon is still identifying promising pay intervals within the structure that have not been produced previously." The company said it believes that remaining reserves warrant capital investment to maintain production from the field.

Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission figures for November show the field producing some 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a month from 28 completions in the Beluga, Sterling and Tyonek formations, with cumulative production from the field at 2.3 trillion cubic feet.

The Corps said in a public notice published Jan. 7 that approximately 49,300 cubic yards of clean gravel will be discharged into 3.8 acres of wetlands to support four natural gas wells including well cellars, production buildings, a compressor building and additional wastewater storage capacity, a snow storage area, parking, new vehicle travel patterns, a switch gear building for electrical service, buried utility lines, flow lines from each well head to production building(s), meters and possibly dehydration equipment.

Additional production wells will be at the north end of the pad and expansion on the northwest side would be used for installation of production facilities. Expansion to the southwest and south would accommodate re-routing vehicle traffic away from the core areas of the pad and to the south of the existing structures, and also allow for additional production facilities.

Pad 41-7 is in sections 6 and 7 of township 4 north, range 11 west, Seward Meridian.