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Hilcorp applies for work at Sterling field
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska has applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas for a lease plan of operations for two grassroots wells and installation of infrastructure on the existing Sterling Pad near Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula.
Sterling is a gas field discovered in the early 1960s which has not been in production since 2015.
In an Aug. 6 public notice the division said comments on the proposal are due by 4:30 p.m. Sept. 5.
Hilcorp said in its July 28 application that the requested approval is for drilling of two grassroots wells and installation of necessary associated infrastructure including gas flowlines, electrical instrumentation, line heaters, separators, compressors and well cellars. Wellhouses may be installed to facilitate production.
Work will be on the existing pad and road footprint.
The company said drilling is projected for October and November, subject to weather, permitting and the company's schedule.
Drilling and testing of the wells is estimated at eight weeks per well.
Drilling permits Hilcorp is in the process of applying for drilling permits from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which on July 14 approved spacing exceptions for two of three Sterling wells; drilling permits had not yet been issued when this issue of Petroleum News went to press.
The commission said in conservation orders issued in mid-July that one of the three is a backup in the event of an unsuccessful well.
Targets include Sterling and Beluga reservoir sands in the SU 32-16 well and the Tyonek undefined gas pool in SU 43-10RD, the backup well to SU 43-10.
Sterling was a federal oil and gas unit, approved in 1961. Between May 1962 and April 2015 the field produced 14.47 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from five undefined gas pools -- Sterling, Upper Beluga, Beluga, Lower Beluga/Tyonek and Tyonek.
Hilcorp Alaska became operator in 2013. Sterling wells have not produced in paying quantities since May 2015 and in December 2017 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management terminated the federal Sterling unit agreement.
--KRISTEN NELSON
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