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Agreement reached on Prudhoe Bay operator, unit plans State agrees to single field operator; companies agree to share development plans with state, but will retain confidential information Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
Final amendments to the June 27 findings and decision on BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.’s June 1 application for change of unit operator at Prudhoe Bay were issued by the Division of Oil and Gas July 25.
Division of Oil and Gas Director Ken Boyd told PNA Aug. 2 “the real change was in the way the field development plans are handled. Rather than give them to us … we agreed the state would be briefed once a year and have access to the document (then).” The Prudhoe Bay operator, BP Exploration (Alaska), will keep the document, but the division has access to the document at BP, he said.
BP, as Prudhoe Bay unit operator, is required by the findings and decision to submit a plan of development for the Permo-Triassic reservoir at Prudhoe Bay (the oil rim and gas cap participating areas) to the DNR commissioner for review and approval by Sept. 15 each year. Beginning Jan. 1, the Prudhoe Bay operator “shall not develop or produce from the Permo-Triassic Reservoir except in accordance with a current plan of development approved by the Commissioner.” Reservoir development objectives confidential The document the companies will retain — and present to the state in an annual briefing — is the reservoir development objectives for the Permo-Triassic reservoir set forth in the Prudhoe Bay unit operating agreement. The July 25 amendments provide that in the event the reservoir development objectives in the operating agreement are revised, the revision will be submitted to the commissioner within 60 days of approval by the Prudhoe Bay owners. The operator will also meet with Division of Oil and Gas representatives annually “to review operations during the prior year and future development plans.” At that meeting, division representatives may review, “on a confidential basis for information purposes,” the most recent field development plan approved by the owners. The division will also have “reasonable access” to the document for review at the field operator’s Anchorage office. The findings and decision as originally written required that a copy of these plans to be delivered to the division, but the major Prudhoe Bay owners — BP, Phillips and Exxon — were concerned about the confidentiality of that document.
The original findings and decision was also revised to change the date at which a revised copy of the Prudhoe Bay unit agreement needs to be filed from no later than Oct. 1, to no later than 60 days after unanimous alignment of Prudhoe Bay unit interests.
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