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Division approves Diamond Pad at Hilcorp's west side Pretty Creek
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas has approved a unit plan of operations from Hilcorp Alaska for construction of the Diamond Pad at the Pretty Creek unit. In its May 8 approval the division said the Diamond Pad is some 9 miles northeast of the Beluga Airport on the west side of Cook Inlet.
The project includes the new gravel pad, a pig launching pad, access road and pipeline. The pad, at the northern edge of the Pretty Creek unit, will measure 425 feet by 400 feet. A new gravel access road, 832 feet long by 40 feet wide, will connect the pad to the existing Beluga Road. A 1,232-foot buried 6-inch pipeline along the new access road will tie into the existing pipeline system. A separate pad, 40 feet by 60 feet, will be constructed across the existing road from the new pad and will house pig launching equipment.
Vegetation cleaning and grubbing are scheduled from May 15-May 22, followed by installation of the pad and road from May 22-June 16.
Operational facilities will be installed from June 16-Aug. 1 -- a generator building and an electrical building. Other facilities and equipment include an air compressor, air dryer, pad dehydration skid, compressor skid, produced water tank and communication tower.
Pipeline installation will be from Aug. 1 to Sept. 1. Drilling cellars and conductors will be installed from Aug. 1-14, with drilling mobilization from Aug. 21-25 and drilling from Aug. 27 to Oct. 5. Well testing is scheduled for Sept. 15-Nov. 1.
Up to five wells are planned.
Pretty Creek background The Pretty Creek unit was formed in 1997, the division said, and Hilcorp Alaska assumed operatorship from Union Oil Company of California in 2012.
Two pads have been constructed at Pretty Creek -- Pretty Creek 1 Pad and Pretty Creek 2 Pad.
The division said Pretty Creek 1 Pad was rehabilitated in 1978 and is no longer in use.
Pretty Creek 2 Pad was expanded in 2025; there is one producing well and one injection well for gas storage on that pad.
The division cited recent seismic surveys: 2D and 3D surveys of West Cook Inlet in 2006 by CGG Veritas Land and a land and marine 3D survey of the Cook Inlet basin between 2011 and 2014 by Apache Alaska Corp.
The Diamond Pad will give Hilcorp access to undeveloped leases within the Pretty Creek unit.
--KRISTEN NELSON
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