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Lease plan of ops filed for Seaview pad
Hilcorp will construct pad at old gravel mine near Anchor River on south Kenai, drill 2 wells, 1 for oil and gas, 1 just for gas
Hilcorp Alaska has filed a lease plan of operations application with the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas for construction of the Seaview pad on the southern Kenai Peninsula near Anchor River, and said it plans to drill two exploration wells from the new pad. The company permitted and drilled seven shallow stratigraphic test wells in the area last summer and began permitting activities earlier in the year for the new pad with an application to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to amend its Cook Inlet oil discharge, prevention and contingency plan (see story in Feb. 25 issue of Petroleum News).
The June 1 application to the division includes two delineation wells targeting gas at a depth without the potential for liquid hydrocarbons to return to the surface within ADL 392667, the division said, with the remainder of exploration activities located on fee simple lands within the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Proposed start date for the work is mid-July, Hilcorp said in the application, noting that the project is expected to begin as soon as all applicable permits and authorizations are received and said the schedule may change and dates may move forward or back, with project milestones depending on weather, permitting and company schedule. The division is taking comments through July 25, so the proposed start date for the work has already slipped. The June 1 application indicates that drilling would begin two weeks after the scheduled preparation of the gravel pad and construction of berms, an estimated start date of Aug. 1, with drilling of the second well planned for Sept. 23.
Access to the proposed wells will be via Christian Avenue off the old Sterling Highway south of Anchor Point.
Existing gravel mine site Hilcorp told the state the pad would be constructed on an existing gravel mine site on non-unitized private land near Anchor River. The company said new pad construction is required to reach potential targets. The proposed pad is 280 by 300 feet, 1.92 acres, within section 9, township 5 south, range 15 west, Seward Meridian.
Pad preparation would include leveling and preparing the mine site, placement of geotextile liner on the pad footprint and placement of some 5,000 cubic yards of gravel fill over the liner.
Gravel will would be compacted and a berm built around the edge of the pad, the company said.
Two wells planned Hilcorp said as many as two gas exploration wells, Seaview No. 8 and Seaview No. 9, will be drilled from the pad, using Hilcorp Rig 169. Seaview No. 8 will be drilled to a measured depth of some 10,000 feet to the west-southwest of the pad, the company said, with the first 5,500 feet of wellbore to be perforated to evaluate gas zones and the bottom-hole to be evaluated for oil.
Seaview No. 9 will extend some 10,000 feet (measured depth) to the northwest of the pad and is a gas exploration well only, Hilcorp said, because no oil exploration targets have been identified.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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