|
DNR grants road easement for gas project NordAq Energy pursues Shadura development inside Alaska’s Kenai National Wildlife Refuge; project previously received federal OK Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
NordAq Energy Inc. continues to advance its Shadura natural gas project on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has granted the company permission to build an all-season gravel access road across state land.
The road will run nearly 2 miles from the Captain Cook State Recreation Area south to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
From there, NordAq, under authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, plans to extend the road about 2.5 miles farther to a well pad within the refuge.
Federal approval NordAq is a small, Anchorage-based independent. It is among a number of companies looking to prove up new supplies of natural gas to replace declining reserves in the Cook Inlet region.
Its Shadura project is northeast of the Nikiski community, and west of the Swanson River oil field.
The federal government owns the surface estate at the Shadura site, while Cook Inlet Region Inc. owns the subsurface estate. NordAq has a lease with CIRI to develop the gas resource.
In early 2011, NordAq laid a temporary ice road to Shadura and drilled a wildcat exploratory well.
The company hasn’t made clear the size of its apparent discovery.
On June 28, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a “record of decision” clearing the way for the Shadura development.
Tentative development plan In seeking the federal approval, NordAq offered a two-stage development plan.
The first stage involves construction of a “minimal” drilling pad about a mile east of the wildcat well. One new gas well would be drilled and tested.
If the test results were unfavorable, all equipment and gravel would be removed and the affected area restored.
If the results were favorable, a second stage would be built. This would involve expanding the pad and drilling five more gas wells. Production facilities also would be installed on the pad.
NordAq plans to lay natural gas gathering lines and a communications cable along the access road.
The gas would tie into a ConocoPhillips Alaska gas line to the northwest.
| 