Hilcorp advancing Kalotsa pad with four-well program planned

Hilcorp Alaska LLC expects to build a new pad at the Ninilchik unit later this year.

The local subsidiary of the Texas-based independent plans to construct the Kalotsa pad and drill as many as four wells at the onshore Cook Inlet unit starting later this year. The pad would be the ninth at the unit, after (from north to south) the Abalone, Falls Creek, Bartolowits, Blossom, Grassim Oskoloff, Ninilchik State, Susan Dionne and Paxton pads.

In a timeline provided to the Department of Natural Resources, Hilcorp expects construction to be far enough along to drill the first well as early as November 2016, the second well in February 2018 and the remaining wells at undetermined dates after 2018, although the timing of the latter three wells depend on the results of the first well.

The state is taking comments on the proposal through Sept. 21.

The new Kalotsa pad would reach targets between the existing Susan Dionne and Paxton pads, according to Hilcorp. The proposed pad would be within the existing Susan Dionne participating area. The Ninilchik unit follows the coastline between the communities of Clam Gulch and Ninilchik, and many wells at the unit require directional drilling to reach offshore targets, which limits the possibilities for placing onshore pads.

Any production would be separated at the pad before being sent along a new flowline to existing facilities at the Susan Dionne pad for further treatment and the Hilcorp-operated Kenai Beluga Pipeline for transmission into the regional natural gas transportation grid.

Hilcorp would monitor operations at the Kalotsa pad remotely from the Susan Dionne pad, with drilling crews housed at an offsite camp and some other offsite lodging. The construction project includes a new gravel road connecting the two drilling pads.

Hilcorp initially included the pad and a two-well program in a revised plan of development for the Ninilchik unit submitted to state officials in October 2014, and began permitting the project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in June 2015.

But in a plan of development filed earlier this year, Hilcorp blamed unspecified “permitting issues” for delaying the project and pushed the timeline to late 2016.

Of all the properties Hilcorp acquired in Alaska since 2011, the Ninilchik unit has received among the most extensive exploration and development investments.

- Eric Lidji