DEC issues APDES permit for Sabre

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has issued an Alaska pollutant discharge elimination system individual permit for Cook Inlet Energy’s Sabre oil and gas exploration project.

The permit was issued May 16, is effective June 16 and expires June 15, 2023.

The permit allows discharges from the Sabre exploration project in the West McArthur River lease area in upper Cook Inlet, just north of West Foreland.

Subject to conditions in the permit, Cook Inlet Energy, a Glacier Oil and Gas Corp., subsidiary, may discharge fluids including drilling fluids and drill cuttings; deck drainage; graywater; blowout preventer fluid; fire control test water; noncontact cooling water; uncontaminated ballast water; excess cement slurry; fluids, cuttings and cement at the seafloor; completion fluids; well treatment fluids; and test fluids.

DEC said the permit was developed based on characteristics of wastewater represented by the Spartan 151 jack-up drilling rig, the mobile offshore drilling unit proposed in the application - but the permit would allow discharges from other MODUs as long as discharge characteristics were consistent with the Spartan 151.

The Sabre project is on the west side of Cook Inlet, some three miles offshore in Trading Bay. DEC said the project will include moving a MODU to the site, using support vessels and aircraft activities during drilling, evaluating the presence and extent of hydrocarbon resources - including flow testing if successful - and suspending or abandoning the well once drilling is complete.

“Pending results of gas reserves evaluation, CIE may install a subsea wellhead and tree on the drilling fluid line to enable production at a later time,” DEC said.

- KRISTEN NELSON