Pelican Hill spuds gas exploration well on west side of Cook Inlet

Pelican Hill Oil and Gas has begun drilling in Alaska.

The company spud its first well, the Iliamna No. 1, on the west side of Cook Inlet, Nov. 4, using a Water Resources International rig, the Ideco H-35 KD, which Al Gross, president of Pelican Hill Oil and Gas, brought over from Hawaii this summer.

The drilling permit, issued Oct. 24 by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, describes the well as a vertical hole in section 31, township 9 north, range 14 west, Seward Meridian. It is on state oil and gas lease ADL 0388133, onshore at Trading Bay, north of the Trading Bay production facility.

Access to the exploration sites is by existing roads and temporary roads constructed with an interlocking mat system which will be removed once the work is complete.

Iliamna is a natural gas exploration prospect. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission determined that the proposed wells “are highly unlikely to encounter oil or oil-bearing formations” between the surface and 5,500 feet vertical depth, the proposed depth for the wells. Pelican has told the state that should gas be discovered, new facilities would be limited to gas-producing wellheads and well houses.

The Iliamna prospect is on a lease Pelican Hill acquired in November 2002 in a farm out from Unocal. The leases acquired from Unocal, a block of 21,543 acres, expire Jan. 31.

Pelican received a permit for a second well, the Iliamna No. 2, on Oct. 30. That well is also a vertical hole. It is in section 29-T9N-R14W, SM, also on state oil and gas lease ADL 0388133.