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CIE plans three Susitna basin gas wells Company aims to drill two holes on Kroto Creek prospect and one on Moose Creek prospect; request made to convert license to leases Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Cook Inlet Energy LLC is planning to drill up to three exploratory wells on remote natural gas prospects in the Susitna basin during the upcoming winter season.
The Anchorage-based company holds three state licenses giving it exclusive exploration rights over a combined 580,147 acres in the basin, located north of Cook Inlet and west of the Willow community.
The planned wells are on the company’s Susitna exploration license No. 2, which is the largest of the three.
Cook Inlet Energy aims to access its drilling sites via a 25-mile groomed snow route known as the Big Bend Trail.
The company plans to drill up to two gas wells on its Kroto Creek prospect, and one gas well farther west on the Moose Creek prospect, says a new plan of operations submitted on Oct. 4 to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas.
Convert to leases Cook Inlet Energy is a subsidiary of Miller Energy Resources Inc., a publicly traded company based in Knoxville, Tenn.
In its plan of operations, Cook Inlet Energy says it has “met the necessary work commitment” for Susitna license No. 2, and has asked the state to convert a portion of the license to leases.
“The Kroto Creek and Moose Creek prospects are within the area requested to be converted to leases,” the plan says.
Exploration licenses are designed to stimulate exploration in frontier basins and complement the state’s regular leasing program. The licensing allows companies to explore these basins with the state imposing only minimal cost.
License recipients must post a bond in the amount of their work commitment, and a license term can run up to 10 years.
If the work commitment is satisfied, any portion of the licensed area may be converted to oil and gas leases, the Division of Oil and Gas says.
The division’s exploration licensing website indicates Susitna license No. 2 carried a work commitment of $3 million.
Project logistics Cook Inlet Energy already has built a drilling pad at Kroto Creek. The pad is located about 12 miles northwest of Willow Creek Landing, a public access point on the Susitna River.
In November and December, the company plans to pack and groom the snow trail, and build ice bridges across the Susitna and Deskha rivers.
It will then mobilize Miller rig 34, a small, truck-mounted Atlas Copco RD20, to the Kroto Creek pad. Up to two exploratory gas wells will be drilled.
If time allows, the rig then will be moved to the Moose Creek prospect. There, the company needs to construct a short spur trail and a drilling pad.
To support the exploratory drilling, Cook Inlet Energy says it might use ski planes and helicopters. A landing strip made of compacted snow could be built in one of the large clearings south and east of the Kroto Creek pad, the company says.
Working in the wilds of Alaska often carries the risk of bear encounters, but the plan of operations says “there are no known occupied bear dens in the project area.”
The drilling rig and all associated equipment will be removed by April 30, the plan says.
Well cuttings and fluids most likely will be disposed of at the grind and injection facility at the company’s West McArthur River oil field, the plan says.
Cook Inlet Energy says it “does not expect to encounter liquid hydrocarbons during this drilling program, and has applied for a gas-only certification for these wells.”
If approved, this would relieve the company of the requirement for an oil spill prevention and cleanup plan.
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