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EnCana spud McCovey, MMS says
Kristen Nelson, PNA editor-in-chief
John Goll, Alaska regional director of the Minerals Management Service, told The Alliance Dec. 12 that EnCana spud its exploration well at McCovey Dec. 6.
McCovey, in the central Beaufort Sea, is probably the federal-state prospect of greatest interest, Goll said. A plan by Phillips Alaska and partner Chevron to drill from an ice island raised concerned for Bowhead whales, and the project was redesigned to use the steel drilling caisson. EnCana out of Calgary became the operator in partnership with ConocoPhillips and Chevron and the SDC was moved into position before the fall whaling season and put into quiet mode Aug. 14. EnCana spud the well Dec. 6, Goll said, and is drilling today. Activity will be wrapped up before spring breakup.
Liberty speculation “There’s been a lot of speculation about Liberty,” Goll said. The Beaufort Sea accumulation was discovered 20 years ago. MMS completed the final environmental impact statement for the project in May. “We wanted to document all the work that had been done on that project, but more importantly, we wanted to have a document ready so it could be used as a basis for any future proposals.
“And BP has been meeting with us and is continuing to evaluate the option for bringing that oil to shore,” Goll said.
BP told PNA in November that Liberty acreage is not among the exploration properties that the company has up for sale.
Northstar, operating for about a year, is 84 percent state acreage, Goll said, and of the 16 percent that is federal, 27 percent of that goes to the state.
MMS is also involved in Cook Inlet, in ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.’s Cosmopolitan unit north of Anchor Point, which is another state-federal unit. The initial exploration well was drilled from onshore to state waters. Goll said that ConocoPhillips “is evaluating the next steps on that project.” His overhead showed a possible sidetrack for the unit. As previously reported by PNA, a Nov. 14 letter from MMS to ConocoPhillips says the company requested a suspension of operation for the two federal leases in the Cosmopolitan unit on Nov. 5 and subsequently told MMS that a sidetrack to the Hansen No. 1 well could start sometime in the second quarter of 2003.
Editor’s note: See the Dec. 22 issue of PNA for Goll’s comments on access and permitting issues in the Alaska region.
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