Hilcorp plans Kenai Peninsula 3D program north of North Fork

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Hilcorp Alaska has applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas for a 3D seismic survey on the Kenai Peninsula.

The March 20 application is for a program north of Nikolaevsk, south of Deep Creek, east of Happy Valley and west of the Caribou Hills, the division said in an April 4 public notice. Comments on the proposal must be received by 4:30 p.m. May 5.

Hilcorp said it plans to acquire the 3D over some 69 square miles using a "very light impact seismic acquisition method" with all drilling with portable hand-held equipment and no ATV use except along established roads and trails. Wireless nodes will be used for recording and small mini-dynamite charges, not to exceed 0.25 kilograms, will be used at depths of approximately 5 feet. Nodes will be 220 feet apart in a grid pattern with charges following a 110-foot by 220-foot grid.

The program will take some 90 days, depending on weather, and is proposed to begin May 20 and end Sept. 1, with de-mobilization and recovery of nodes throughout the project, ending Sept. 30. Staging will be from Hilcorp-operated pads.

An overall project map shows the project area stretching from the northeast edge of the North Fork unit to southeast of Hilcorp's Deep Creek unit. Hilcorp is in the process of buying the North Fork unit with that acquisition projected to close by May 1. Land covered by the survey is owned by the state, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Ninilchik Native Association, Cook Inlet Region Inc. and private entities. A lease ownership map posted by the division in February shows some leases in the survey area held by Hilcorp with a considerable portion of the area unleased.

--KRISTEN NELSON