GRI doing permitting work for 50 Houston coalbed gas wells

Although no flow rates have been released from the company's first three wells, work planned for 1998-2000 includes 50 wells pads, four miles of road

Kristen Nelson

PNA News Editor

No flow rates have been released from GRI Inc.'s first three coalbed gas wells, but the company has begun permitting an additional 50 wells.

Development at the shallow gas field near Houston in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough some 22 miles north of Anchorage will include wells, pads, compressor stations, flowlines, pipelines and electrical connections.

Dave Lappi, president of GRI Inc., told PNA June 9 that the company is “quietly confident” about results from initial wells and is awaiting results of its applications to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for an area injection order and approval for subsurface transfer of water to proceed with work on those wells.

The first three Houston gas field wells, numbers 1-3, were drilled on the same state oil and gas lease, ADL 381134. The Houston 4, in ADL 374129 to the west, “has proven to be non-commercial,” the firm said, but another well, the Houston 4-A, is planned for that lease.

The rest of this story is available from Petroleum News • Alaska by calling the circulation manager Dan Wilcox at 522-9469 for back issue copies. (June 1998)