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Division OKs 4 Hilcorp Cook Inlet PODs
Cannery Loop includes possible new wells; Deep Creek has evaluation of possible new well; evaluations at Seaview, including CBM
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
In late June the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas approved four plans of development by Hilcorp Alaska for fields in Cook Inlet: Cannery Loop, Deep Creek, Seaview and the gas storage lease for pool 6 in the Kenai Gas Field. All four 2024 approvals are for Aug. 1 through July 31, 2025.
Cannery Loop, in the Kenai area on the Kenai Peninsula, saw unit formation in 1978. Like the other fields in these decisions it produces natural gas.
During the 2023 POD, the division said, Hilcorp began drilling the CLU 16 grassroots well and based on results from that well, will evaluate up to two additional grassroots wells in the 2024 POD period. Hilcorp also added perforations at the CLU 14 well in the upper Beluga formations and installed velocity strings in the CLU 01RD well.
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission production data for May, the most recent available, do not show production from the CLU 16, but information on the well in AOGCC online data files show drilling was completed in May, with perforation work planned for June.
"Depending on the subsurface locations of potential follow-up grassroots drill wells, Hilcorp intends to expand the CLU 1 Pad and/or install additional compressor capacity at the CLU 3 Pad," the division said.
The 2024 POD includes: preparation for potential sidetracks; coil cleanout operations; adding perforations; setting plugs or patches for potential water shutoff activities; and evaluating and executing additional well work opportunities, the division said.
In May Cannery Loop production averaged 4,798 thousand cubic feet per day.
The Deep Creek unit was formed in 2001 and produces from the Happy Valley participating area. During the 2023 POD, the division said Hilcorp added perforations in the HVB-12, HVB-16A and HVB-17 wells. AOGCC data for May show Deep Creek averaged 3,382 mcf per day.
For the 2024 POD the division said Hilcorp will evaluate and execute well work opportunities as they arise, including rig workovers, perforation additional water shut offs or fill cleanout; the company will also evaluate the potential for a new grassroots well, "pending the reservoir field studies results planned for spring and summer 2024"; and pursue improvements through various well, infrastructure and facility repairs as needed.
Seaview, Pool 6 At Seaview, where the unit was formed in 2020 and which has not been in production since 2022, the division said while Hilcorp had proposed in its 2023 POD adding perforations to the Seaview 9 well, it elected not to "due to the proximity of the surface casing to the proposed perforation." The company also did not perform proposed injectivity tests at Seaview 9 or replace the Seaview Pad 1 compressor "because other compression opportunities took precedence."
Hilcorp did acquire a seismic line along the Sterling Highway which, although it was outside the Seaview participating area "will enhance the understanding of the overall structure in the Seaview and Whiskey Gulch region for future development and exploration." Whiskey Gulch is north of Seaview.
During the 2024 POD, division said Hilcorp plans a shallow stratigraphic drill test; will evaluate drilling a test well to access sands shallower than those accessible in the existing wells; evaluate adding perforations to Seaview 8 and 9; explore collecting data and testing coalbed methane potential at Seaview; and pursue facility improvements as needed.
Hilcorp had no work planned during the 2023 POD period at the Kenai Gas Field Pool 6 gas storage lease. The division said the reservoir at the lease is used to inject and withdraw "previously produced gas to help meet peak utility demand during the coldest months" of the year, with injection of 6 billion cubic feet in calendar year 2023 and withdrawal of 4.8 bcf.
The division said, "long-range activities for the 2024 POD period include drilling up to two additional Pool 6 wells and recompleting up to three existing wells into the Pool 6 reservoir."
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