|
CIE plans natural gas exploration well Company wants to test its Otter prospect located in state game refuge on Alaska’s Cook Inlet; drilling to start by late October Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Cook Inlet Energy LLC is proposing to drill a natural gas exploration well in Alaska’s Susitna Flats State Game Refuge.
The well will test the company’s Otter prospect in the northwest corner of the refuge, located west of Anchorage along the northern shore of Cook Inlet.
The general vicinity has seen drilling before, with the prospect located roughly 10 miles north of the ConocoPhillips-operated Beluga gas field.
CIE, a subsidiary of Tennessee-based, publicly traded Miller Energy Resources Inc., laid out its project in a proposed plan of operations for state lease ADL 390579.
The permit application, filed Aug. 10 with the state Division of Oil and Gas, said the company aims to commence drilling before the end of October and finish operations by early December.
Project details Anchorage-based CIE launched as a company in 2009. Its chief operations at present include the West McArthur River oil field and the Osprey offshore platform. Both properties are located on the west side of Cook Inlet.
In its permit application, CIE said the Otter prospect “is being evaluated only as a natural gas development.”
It proposes drilling an exploratory well to a total vertical depth of no greater than 7,500 feet. The well is not expected to encounter any liquid hydrocarbons.
“CIE will drill the well to evaluate the potential for development of natural gas reserves in the Lower Miocene Sterling and Beluga Formations and the Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene Tyonek formation that CIE has named the ‘Otter Prospect,’” the permit application said.
An existing road system will provide access to the overgrown drill site, which will be cleared for construction of a gravel drill pad not to exceed 150 feet by 300 feet. CIE said it will work with Cook Inlet Region Inc. on road upgrades.
On the nearby Pretty Creek well pad, CIE plans to drill a water well and establish a staging area to support the Otter project.
The company will use Miller rig 34 to drill the well. The small rig is an Atlas Copco RD20 model. The rig will be mobilized to the area by barge from the West Forelands area.
“Preparing the pad will begin in October 2011,” CIE’s permit application said. “It is anticipated that drilling operations will commence before the end of October and take approximately one month to complete, dependent upon drilling results and testing conducted. In any case, drilling operations will cease by early December 2011 with all equipment expected to be out of the project area by December 15.”
The only existing well within a mile of the proposed Otter drill site is the Pretty Creek State No. 1 well, plugged and abandoned in 1975, the CIE application said.
CIE plans to test the Otter well for natural gas, flaring all test production. The company then will plug and abandon, suspend or complete the well based on the test results.
The Otter prospect is in rugged country. Before beginning field operations, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will be asked to point out any known occupied bear dens in the area, CIE said.
The proposed lease plan of operations is out for public comment through Sept. 26.
| 