Osprey platform well workovers continue

Cook Inlet Energy LLC is marching on with its efforts to revive damaged and shut-in wells on its Osprey platform in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

A Dec. 20 “operational update” from Cook Inlet Energy’s parent company, Tennessee-based Miller Energy Resources Inc., said a workover of the RU-3 natural gas well was completed on Dec. 14.

“We then commenced swabbing operations to remove wellbore fluid in order to prepare for well testing,” the update said. “During the workover we discovered multiple unreported fish left in the hole by a previous operator. We were able to successfully remove the obstructions, but this caused the workover to take longer than expected. The well has now been completed and the wellhead installed. The project is on track to be completed under budget.”

The Osprey platform is in the Redoubt unit, on the western side of Cook Inlet. The platform was idle and its wells shut-in when Cook Inlet Energy acquired it out of a bankruptcy sale in late 2009.

Since then, the company has been working to restore production from the wells.

RU-3 a priority

The company noted its swabbing operations on RU-3 were recovering fluid at a slower rate than hoped. So it intends to conduct a “nitrogen coil cleanout” to speed up the process.

“Well testing will commence as soon as sufficient liquids have been removed from the wellbore,” the operational update said.

In January, the company plans a gas workover on another Osprey well, RU-4. That well previously tested at a rate of 1.4 million cubic feet per day from the Tyonek gas sands, the update said. The workover is expected to take 10 to 12 days.

After completing work on RU-4, Cook Inlet Energy plans to either drill a sidetrack to the RU-2 well, or replace a failed electric submersible pump in the RU-7 well.

—Wesley Loy