Separate pool rules for Kuparuk River

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has issued separate pool rules for the Kuparuk River oil pool within the Kuparuk River unit, separating those rules from the Kuparuk River oil pool within the Milne Point unit.

In a May 29 order the commission said that on its own motion, it decided to contract Conservation Order 432E to contain only that portion of the Kuparuk River oil pool operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska.

"The Kuparuk Formation across KRU and MPU comprise a single oil pool per AOGCC statutes."

But, the commission concluded, where a pool has more than one operator, "pool rules that are limited to the portion of that pool that is operated by a single operator are appropriate to allow each operator to develop their portion of the KROP in the manner that they deem appropriate."

The commission said last fall in a notice on the proposed change that issuing separate pool rules for the Kuparuk River oil pool in the Kuparuk River and Milne Point units "would be consistent with how the AOGCC prescribes rules for other pools, such as the Nanushuk Formation and Schrader Bluff Formation, for which the geology crosses unit boundaries."

The commission's area injection orders are already limited to single units.

AOGCC said last fall that it has concerns that splitting pools between units could result in lost resources and discussed those concerns when it approved pool rules for Oil Search (Alaska)'s Nanushuk oil pool at the Pikka unit in July (see story in July 30, 2023, issue of Petroleum News).

--KRISTEN NELSON