AOGCC sets CIE reconsideration hearing

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has scheduled a reconsideration hearing on penalties it imposed on Cook Inlet Energy last year.

A public hearing had been previously scheduled on the CIE request for reconsideration, but the company asked that the hearing be continued pending appointment of a third commissioner. That appointment took place July 20, and the AOGCC has now scheduled a public hearing for Sept. 13 at 9 a.m. at its Anchorage offices.

The commission fined CIE $446,000 in May 2015 for multiple violations at the Sword No. 1 well between November 2013 and March 2014.

In December 2014 the commission issued a notice of corrective action based on numerous regulatory violations of the safety valve system at the Sword No. 1 and a failure to provide requested information to the commission on the company’s safety valve system compliance policies. That notice proposed a civil penalty of $806,000.

The commission reduced the penalty based on mitigating circumstances but said “CIE has a history of noncompliance involving various parts of its operation that fall under AOGCC jurisdiction” at operations other than the Sword well.

It required corrective actions, including a detailed description and example of regulatory compliance tracking program, a copy of a written management-of-change procedures, and evidence that personnel have been trained in AOGCC regulatory requirements.

- Petroleum News