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Evergreen Resources receives 8 drilling permits
Kristen Nelson, PNA editor-in-chief
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued drilling permits Sept. 10 to Evergreen Resources (Alaska) Corp. for eight wells in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, although the wells cannot be completed or produced until the commission rules on a spacing exception request.
In public notices published Sept. 11, the commission tentatively scheduled an Oct. 15 hearing on the eight wells to allow exceptions to regulations for spacing — the distance between wells — for “completion and production” of the “vertical gas wells within 3,000 feet of each other, and within 1,500 feet of a property boundary and within the same governmental section.”
The commission said that if it does not receive requests for hearings by Sept. 27, it will consider ruling on the request without a hearing.
Pioneer unit wells These wells are in the Pioneer unit, which Evergreen Resources acquired in 2001 from Unocal and Ocean Energy Resources Inc. Evergreen told the state earlier this year that it plans an eight-well exploration project to test the ability of coals in the 72,000-acre unit to produce gas.
Evergreen said the wells will be drilled, completed and tested in two pilot areas, each area laid out with one well in the center, and the other wells 1,000 feet to the north, southeast and southwest of the central wells.
“It is important to understand that we currently propose an exploration program designed to test the coal’s ability to produce natural gas,” Evergreen told the state.
“Exploration pilots incorporate a pod of wells being produced within close proximity to one another. In a development program, wells will be spaced at greater distances,” the company said.
One group of four wells is on fee acreage and state of Alaska oil and gas lease ADL 374121 south of Houston.
The second group of wells is on state oil and gas lease ADL 384685 east of Houston.
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