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Gardes' Vision Operating hanging in there Meets first requirement of modified plan of development that was set by DNR, which might lead to new North Fork well by end of 2025
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
Vision Operating made its first report deadline of July 1 with the Division of Oil and Gas regarding the modified North Fork unit plan of development.
Going back to March 5, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas approved with modifications the North Fork unit 2024 plan of development.
The POD was filed by unit operator Vision Operating LLC, a fully owned subsidiary of Louisiana-based Gardes Holdings Inc.
The onshore, natural gas producing North Fork unit, or NFU, is on the southern Kenai Peninsula. The division's approval letter was sent to Gardes and Vision executive Mark Landt.
In its 2024 POD Vision proposed to enhance production from existing NFU wells, convert a well to water disposal and drill additional wells. However, all Vision's proposed operations are contingent on market conditions and the ability to raise capital and secure a drilling rig.
The division approved Vision's POD with these conditions: "Vision will begin drilling a well in the NFU by the end of the calendar year 2025 and maintain operations to bring that well into production. Based on these conditions, the NFU 59th POD is approved through the end of 2025. Updates to this POD are due July 1, 2024, Jan. 1, 2025, and July 1, 2025."
Petroleum asked Landt on Aug. 19 whether Vision Operating filed its July 1 update. And if so, what it said. Also, PN asked whether Vision/Gardes acquired any other acreage in Southcentral Alaska.
Here is what Landt had to say:
In response to the July 1 filing: "We have verbally responded. Nothing new."
In response to acquiring new acreage, which Bob Gardes initially suggested he would be doing when his company entered Alaska in September 2020: "No, we have not acquired any new acreage."
Vision Operating's North Fork unit averaged 1,903 thousand cubic feet per day in May 2024, down 14 mcf per day, 0.7%, from an April average of 1,918 mcf per day and down 20% from a May 2023 average of 2,378 mcf per day. The same six wells were in production at North Fork this May and in May 2023, but production was lower at all of those wells this year.
North Forks advantages In an August 2023 interview with Landt, PN asked him what Vision Operating and its North Fork unit in Alaska's Cook Inlet basin offers investors.
"We can put new wells online almost immediately," Landt said.
"Also, the potential Southcentral Alaska natural gas market is very attractive in terms of current pricing and potential future pricing. According to recent utility reports addressing the long-term -- 2027 and beyond -- one alternative is importing LNG at $12 to $32 per mcf. That puts natural gas pricing in the long-term in the $10-20 per mcf range," Landt told PN.
Another advantage, he said, is that that the onshore North Fork unit has all its infrastructure in place, is accessible by road, and is located on state, not federal land.
North Fork is accessed by a 12-mile road from Anchor Point, at the end of which is a 5-acre gravel pad bounded by fencing and gates. North Fork natural gas is transported through two fiberglass pipelines to Anchor Point where it ties into the Enstar line.
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