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Hilcorp continues P&A
Middle Ground Shoal wells added to work on Baker, Dillon and Spurr platforms
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska is continuing its work to plug and abandon wells on inactive platforms in Cook Inlet.
In Other Order 193.001, issued Jan. 6, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission conditionally approved an Aug. 21 request from Hilcorp to modify the plan set out in OO 193, issued in May 2022, for plugging and abandoning wells on three inactive platforms in Cook Inlet -- Baker, Dillon and Spurr.
Dillion was considered to have the highest subsurface risk, and those wells were P&A'd first, in 2022 and 2023, with the Baker platform then prepared for P&A activities.
But another platform, C, became idle in September 2023, following a gas leak which developed in April of 2021 in the gas pipeline between Middle Ground Shoal A platform and MGS onshore facilities. The leak caused production from both platforms, A and C, to be shut in.
In its August request Hilcorp said it "completed an economic evaluation in late 2021 and determined that the resource assessable by platform 'A' could justify the pipeline repair in conjunction with other development projects or more favorable market conditions. In no scenario did it make commercial sense to return the MGS 'C' platform to production based on the remaining reserves accessible by its wells."
Oil vs. gas The commission said that in December 2023 Hilcorp proposed plugging only existing Middle Ground Shoal oil pools, "leaving the shallower MGS Gas pool available for potential perforating or rig sidetrack to test the gas potential under the platform."
The company said it wanted to P&A MGS C platform wells after it finished plugging MGS Oil pools on Baker platform, but before it did the Spurr platform wells.
Hilcorp told the commission in 2024 that it wanted to P&A the MGS C wells ahead of the Spurr wells "because the open perforations in wells at MGS-C were riskier than the plugged perforations in wells at Spurr Platform."
Production and injection operations ceased at Spurr in 1992, at Dillon in 2002 and at Baker in 2014.
P&A sequence Dillon wells were P&A'd in 2022-23.
Baker platform MGS oil pools were P&A'd in 2024-25, AOGCC said, except for three wells which it has approved to be P&A'd when the MGS gas pool is P&A'd in the future.
The MGS C platform is scheduled for P&A work in 2026-27, with well inspections to be done on all Spurr platform wells in 2026.
The commission said the Spurr platform is inspected regularly, "is structurally in good overall condition, and not at imminent risk of structural failure."
Spurr wells are scheduled to be P&A'd in 2028, the commission said, and if MGS platform work is not completed in 2027, remaining MGS C wells and Spurr wells will be P&A'd concurrently in 2028, with exceptions "where wells are shown to have future utility."
At Baker, all remaining wells will be P&A'd in 2029, including MGS gas and oil pool wells with exceptions for wells with future utility.
AOGCC said it "intends to impose daily civil penalties for each well at Spurr platform not P&A'd in compliance with AOGCC regulations beginning November 16, 2028," with daily penalties which must be paid monthly starting Dec. 31, 2028, for the Nov. 16-Dec. 31 period, and on the last day of every month thereafter until all wells are P&A'd.
Work completed In the 2022 order the commission required P&A work to be completed at the Dillon, Baker and Spurr platforms in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Hilcorp was required to report on completed P&A work to the commission by Nov. 15 of each year.
In the current order the commission noted that P&A work on Dillon platform wells took two years to complete, not the one year envisioned in 2022, and the MGS oil pool wells on the Baker platform also took two years to P&A.
AOGCC said Hilcorp expected it would take two years to P&A wells on the Spurr platform.
P&A work at Dillon began in 2022 with installation of a temporary camp, followed by diagnostic work on all wells and P&A of roughly half of the platform wells. In 2023 Hilcorp P&A'd the remaining nine Dillon platform wells.
The temporary camp was then moved to the Baker platform and the Baker helideck was rebuilt.
In 2024 diagnostic work was completed at Baker, but only four wells were partially or completely P&A'd. The commission said progress stalled in 2024.
In 2025 all but three Baker platform wells were P&A'd, including all oil pool wells.
The commission said the MGS gas pool has not been plugged in any Baker wells, nor have surface plugs been placed.
"The wells are in a suspended status, with the exception of two disposal wells and one well that penetrated the West Foreland formation below the MGS oil pools."
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