AIDEA approves BlueCrest Cosmo loan

During its April 30 meeting the board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority approved a loan of up to $30 million to BlueCrest Energy Inc. for an onshore drilling rig for the development of the Cosmopolitan oil field. The field lies off the southern Kenai Peninsula near Anchor Point, but BlueCrest plans an oil development from onshore using directional drilling into the deep Hemlock and Starichkof formations. The company hopes to start onshore production by early 2016, with the offshore development of some relatively shallow oil and gas pools to commence at a later time.

AIDEA says that exploration and testing activities over the last 30 years at Cosmopolitan have revealed sizable oil reserves in the field and that three independent analysts, including one that AIDEA hired, have confirmed the resource. The analysts have also verified the field’s ability to support oil production in excess of 8,000 barrels per day, AIDEA says.

“We are pleased to move forward in support of BlueCrest in their Cook Inlet development program,” said AIDEA Executive Director John Springsteen. “AIDEA’s financial participation in this rig will not only help secure long-term energy supplies for Alaskans, it will create job growth and advance the region’s economy.”

The rig in question, which BlueCrest plans to use for up to seven years, has a 3,000 horsepower drive and a more than 30,000-foot reach capability, AIDEA says. And bringing Cosmopolitan on line will create about 45 oilfield jobs and more than 25 further jobs in the trucking operation needed to transport oil from the field to the Tesoro refinery at Nikiski, AIDEA says.

- Alan Bailey