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Cook Inlet Energy to drill gas well Company to spud Olsen Creek No. 1 by mid-June; well workovers continue on Osprey platform with commercial gas sales coming soon Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Cook Inlet Energy LLC says it expects to spud a well no later than June 15 on its Olsen Creek natural gas prospect.
Olsen Creek is among a number of shallow gas prospects in Cook Inlet Energy’s sights. The prospect is west of the ConocoPhillips-operated Beluga River gas field.
The company plans to use its own rig 34 to drill the Olsen Creek No. 1 well.
Cook Inlet Energy said it has reached an agreement with the Alaska Mental Health Trust land office to increase asset acreage over the Olsen Creek prospect by 1,660 acres, bringing the total to 13,421 acres.
David Hall, the company’s chief executive, has said previously that the Olsen Creek gas structure has “strong potential.”
Otter well to be deepened Cook Inlet Energy is a subsidiary of Miller Energy Resources Inc., headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. Miller is a small company, but its shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Cook Inlet Energy got its start as an Alaska producer in late 2009, after acquiring a package of assets on the inlet’s west side. The properties include the West McArthur River oil field and the Osprey platform in the offshore Redoubt unit.
The Olsen Creek gas prospect is about seven miles southwest of the company’s Otter gas prospect.
Cook Inlet Energy drilled the Otter No. 1 exploratory well in 2012, and reported encouraging results. But the well needs further work.
The company plans to deepen the Otter well after it completes the Olsen Creek No. 1, an April 30 press release said.
Cook Inlet Energy has applied to the state Division of Oil and Gas to unitize portions of four state leases at Otter. The proposed unit would take in 5,855 acres.
Osprey work, gas sales Cook Inlet Energy has been busy bringing wells on its Osprey platform back online. The platform was shut-in when acquired out of a bankruptcy sale. It is the newest and southernmost platform in Cook Inlet.
The company has revived several Osprey wells, and recently began a workover of the RU-2 well. The workover involves drilling a sidetrack to go around a compromised portion of the wellbore.
The new hole has been directionally drilled to a depth of 10,372 feet so far, with a projected total depth of 15,451 feet, the company said.
The RU-2 well was originally drilled in 2002 and had an initial production rate of about 2,000 barrels of oil per day with cumulative production of 462,000 barrels, Cook Inlet Energy said.
The company expects the workover will take four weeks to finish.
Part of the effort on Osprey has been establishing gas production to fuel the company’s field operations.
Now the company is looking to become a gas seller.
“We are currently in negotiations with multiple buyers for contracts. We expect to have our first commercial gas sales sometime in May,” said Scott Boruff, chief executive of Miller Energy.
The goal is to sell up to 2 million cubic feet per day from existing wells, Boruff said.
Mark Slaughter, formerly with Enstar Natural Gas Co., the major gas utility in Anchorage, has joined Cook Inlet Energy as commercial manager.
“His extensive experience with natural gas transactions in the Cook Inlet has brought immediate benefits to the company,” Boruff said.
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