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Vol. 27, No.32 Week of August 07, 2022
Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry

Pearl production facilities, well, OK’d

Hilcorp Alaska’s Ninilchik unit plan of operations amendments cover work to bring Pearl pad wells online as natural gas producers

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Hilcorp Alaska received approvals of plan of operations amendments from the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas July 29 for its Ninilchik unit on the Kenai Peninsula. The company plans to develop natural gas from the Pearl Pad, bringing wells into production this year.

The approval for production facilities includes adding a pipeline and gas production facilities to the Pearl Pad. The division said in its approval that the production infrastructure to be added includes produced water tanks, heater separator unit skids, compressor skids, glycol dehydration nodules and a vent scrubber. The pipeline will connect the Pearl Pad to the existing Kenai Kachemak Pipeline.

The Pearl Pad is some 4 miles northeast of Ninilchik on privately owned surface and subsurface. Hilcorp built the pad in 2017 to support a delineation program targeting an area south of the existing Susan Dionne-Paxton participating area. Hilcorp drilled seven Pearl stratigraphic tests in 2017, two of which are being used as water supply wells; the other five were plugged and abandoned.

Connection approval required

The division’s State Pipeline Coordinator’s Section reviewed the plan. The Kenai Beluga Pipeline has a right of way in the vicinity of the proposed action and SPCS is requesting that Hilcorp receive a letter of non-objection from Kenai Beluga Pipeline since the proposed activity will cross the pipeline right of way and affect pipeline related activities.

SPCS is also requiring that the Kenai Beluga Pipeline provide information regarding the tie-in that would connect Pearl Pad infrastructure to the existing Kenai Kachemak Pipeline right-of-way lease. “Once adequate information is provided, the SPCS will be issuing a written authorization to Kenai Beluga Pipeline, LLC for the tie-in,” the division said.

In response to the SPCS comments, Hilcorp said an interconnection agreement is in place between Kenai Beluga Pipeline and Hilcorp Alaska and will serve as a letter of non-objection for the project.

SPCS said it would accept the interconnection agreement as a letter of non-objection for the project.

Well authorized

The division also authorized the drilling of a well on the Pearl Pad to produce from a state oil and gas subsurface lease. The division noted that a second well is planned, but since it is located entirely on privately owned surface and subsurface it was not included in the decision.

The well, Pearl 8, will be drilled from the onshore Pearl Pad to a bottomhole location in Cook Inlet.

AOGCC permitted Pearl 8 on July 27 as an exploratory well in the Ninilchik field.



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