$10,000 fine for failure to file report

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has fined Eni US Operating Company Inc. $10,000 for failure to file a report on completed workover operations within 30 days of work completion.

Eni is the 100% working interest owner and operator at the Nikaitchuq unit on Alaska’s North Slope. The well in question, SD37-DSP1, is a Class I waste disposal well.

When it issued a proposed enforcement action notice in August the commission proposed a $20,000 fine: $10,000 for failure to obtain prior approval before performing well work and $10,000 for failure to complete a required sundry report within the required time.

The commission said in a Sept. 20 decision and order that the proposed action was issued because Eni failed to submit and get approval prior to doing well work and then failed to file a report on completion of workover operations within 30 days.

Eni subsequently told the commission that it did not do a workover on the well, having decided to shut the well in and attempt a workover in December or January.

AOGCC said in its September order that since no workover was attempted, and Eni shut in the well, that commission approval was not required - the basis for one of the proposed $10,000 fines.

But Eni was required to file a report of sundry well operations within 30 days after completion of operations in November 2019. The commission said that required sundry report was only submitted in August, some eight months later.

The commission has fined the company $10,000 for that violation.

In its August proposal AOGCC told Eni to provide a detailed description of its process for applying for sundry approvals and filing sundry reports “with an explanation of the root cause of these violations, as well as corrective actions undertaken by Eni to assure the violation will not recur” and provide the missing report on the completed work.

“Eni has committed to an increased level of oversight and review of established training and process protocols for employees governing sundry operations,” AOGCC said in its September order. It said it “finds Eni’s implementation of the proposed actions to be satisfactory to help prevent further occurrence of these violations.”

- KRISTEN NELSON