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Trading Bay unit to be expanded
Kristen Nelson, PNA editor-in-chief
Unocal Alaska, Forest Oil Corp. and Marathon Oil Co. have applied to the Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas to expand the Trading Bay unit, and the Hemlock oil pool participating area and Grayling gas sands participating area within the unit.
Two existing wells, the A-15 and A-27RD, produce from zones inside the McArthur River Hemlock oil pool but outside the defined boundaries of the Trading Bay unit, Unocal said, and DNR has requested that Unocal expand the Trading Bay unit and the Hemlock oil pool participating area to encompass producing zones of these wells.
Unocal also said that it and Marathon, working interest owners of the Grayling gas sands participating area, are allocating production and costs from the participating area over a larger area than the officially approved participating area, hence a revised application for expansion of the participating area has been submitted.
Oil from outside unit The A-15RD2L2 was drilled from the Monopod platform in early 2002.
"This sidetrack of well A-15 produces oil from both inside and outside of the current TBU boundary," Mark Myers, director of the Division of Oil and Gas, said in a Dec. 31 letter. The division had approved A-15 lease operations for six months, Myers said, extended that approval until another three months and will extend it again until the division issues a decision on the expansion. Myers said applications submitted in August and again in November were incomplete.
The division accepted a Jan. 23 submission as complete and public noticed the application Feb. 2.
The expansion area covers approximately 560 acres and includes portions of sections 8, 9 and 10, township 9 north, range 13 west, Seward Meridian.
The expansion area is to the north.
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