Escopeta gets C-plan approved by DEC, permit to drill from AOGCC

Escopeta Oil obtained its permit to drill July 1 from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for its offshore drilling program in the Cook Inlet basin. On June 30, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation approved the company’s Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan.

The company is working to have the Spartan 151 jack-up rig in Alaska’s Cook Inlet by the end of July.

“The rig is still in Victoria, British Columbia,” Escopeta contractor Steve Sutherlin told Petroleum News July 7.

Escopeta terminated its contract on the Kang Sheng Kou, the heavy lift vessel that brought the jack-up rig from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada around the tip of South America, and now plans to use U.S. flagged tug boats to “wet tow” the rig to Alaska.

Escopeta plans to take the jack-up rig directly to the offshore Kitchen Lights unit where the company plans to drill its first well this summer.

The rig stopped in Canada for testing and repair of the legs and jacking systems that Escopeta suspected might have been damaged during storms the transport ship encountered on the first attempt to round Cape Horn.

While in Canada, crews also installed high-pressure piping on the rig. Crews plan to perform some additional work on the jack-up while it is en route to Alaska, Sutherlin said.

Per paperwork filed with the State of Alaska, Escopeta ultimately plans to drill five wells over five years at its Kitchen Lights unit in upper Cook Inlet.

Kitchen Lights is a combination of several distinct oil and gas prospects.

—Kay Cashman