The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas approved a lease plan of operations June 15 for Hilcorp Alaska LLC to construct a new gas production facility at its existing Seaview pad located off the Old Sterling Highway 1.5 miles south of the town of Anchor Point on the lower Kenai Peninsula.
Hilcorp submitted a request April 3 for authorization to begin the development and production phase of the Seaview project, for ADL 392667. It includes installation of gas production infrastructure on the existing Seaview pad, as well as the drilling of up to two new gas wells.
The Seaview pad was constructed in 2018 within an existing gravel mine site on private surface lands owned by Thomas H. Clark, Kenai Peninsula Borough tax parcels 16910237 and 16936040.
The Seaview exploration phase authorization included the drilling of the Seaview 8 and 9 wells, the division said. Seaview 8 has been drilled to approximately 10,500 feet. During development and production, the Seaview 9 and the proposed Seaview 10 wells will be drilled.
Hilcorp plans to install gas production facility infrastructure and modules and undertake Seaview 8 well completion beginning Aug. 1. The company plans to spud the Seaview 9 well Nov. 1, and to spud the Seaview 10 well Jan. 15.
10-inch diameter pipeline takeaway
The Seaview project includes metering facilities and pipeline infrastructure beyond the production facility, which will be authorized separately from the plan, the division said. It includes the installation of a 10-inch gas pipeline to transport produced natural gas from the Seaview pad to existing Enstar Natural Gas Co. pipeline infrastructure.
If authorization for the private non-exclusive easement is received, the Seaview project will also be entering the transportation phase upon completion of the natural gas pipeline, the division said. In considering the development and production phase, the division evaluated both the specific activities proposed under the plan as well as typical additional exploration, development, production and transportation activities that Hilcorp might propose for further development in the lease area.
Hilcorp will construct permanent gas production facility infrastructure on the Seaview pad including three heater separator unit skids, two compressor skids, two dehydration units, a vent stack with scrubber, control room, microturbine building, two 200-barrel double-walled produced water tanks and a meter building.
Electrical and instrumentation lines will be installed between each well and the control room.
Gas and produced fluids from wells will be conveyed via subgrade facility to an HSU skid located on the pad. Gas will be routed to a compressor module and a glycol dehydration module.
Produced fluid will be routed to two 200-barrel steel double-walled produced water tanks, pending transportation to an approved disposal well. The production modules have built-in secondary containment to capture liquids associated with processing gas, and to protect against an inadvertent release of production fluids.
Gas fever in Anchor Point
While Hilcorp employs a host of modern high tech and traditional exploration techniques, its study of drainage anomalies on the Kenai Peninsula led the way to the Anchor Point area.
The Swanson River field discovery by Richfield in the late 1950s is credited with sparking the modern oil industry in Alaska, which in turn built the case for statehood.
Soldotna Creek wraps around the main producing part of the Swanson River field, Hilcorp Senior Geologist Dave Buthman said in a presentation to the Alaska Geological Society March 17.
“It’s hard to avoid seeing the importance of drainage anomalies when you see this,” Buthman said. “A full half of the production of Swanson River has come from this circular drainage anomaly.”
Happy Valley has a nosing drainage anomaly where Deep Creek flows that reveals a surface expression of the structure, he said.
“The discovery we just made at Seaview, you see the same sort of thing with the Anchor River,” he said. “We don’t have outcrops there, but we still see the same nosing.”
Over the last few years, Hilcorp has been doing a brisk business to secure mineral rights around the Anchor River from the state as well as private mineral holders and public entities.
The company made news in late 2018 when it leased borough land mineral rights in Anchor Point, including the 1.7-acre site of the Anchor Point Volunteer Fire Dept. and Rescue.
