|
Furie signs with Hilcorp for use of Spartan 151 jack-up this year
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Furie Operating Alaska said March 31 that it has renewed an agreement with Hilcorp Jack-Up Rig Co. for use of the Spartan 151 jack-up, the only jack-up in Cook Inlet, during this year's drilling season.
Furie said it plans up to two natural gas wells beginning as early as mid-April.
"Furie recently increased the number of wells that can be drilled from our platform, and now with the help of Hilcorp's jack-up rig, we will drill this spring," John Hendrix, president and chief executive officer of Furie, said in a March 31 statement.
"We committed last year that if we received royalty relief we would drill, and we drilled in 2024," he said. The company's royalty relief application was approved by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources in early February, Hendrix said, and Furie has committed to a drilling program which will cost $40 million in 2025.
"We are an Alaskan owned company, and we are executing on our commitments. Drilling will allow new gas to be online for the Railbelt in advance of the 2025/2026 winter. Together with Hilcorp, we are demonstrating that Alaskans working together can develop more critically needed energy from the Cook Inlet basin," he said.
Furie said it was working with local companies on the current drilling program, including Fairweather LLC, Cook Inlet Tug & Marge, Maritime Helicopters, CISPRI, Pollard Wireline Services, Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska and Weaver Brothers.
Recent work Furie used the Spartan 151 last year to drill the Kitchen Lights unit A-1A sidetrack. That well, drilled in October, came online in mid-December. Furie told the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in a February application that one Beluga formation perforation was added after drilling the KLU A-1A and two additional perforations of that formation were planned for March, an application the commission approved.
Kitchen Lights averaged 14,513 thousand cubic feet per day in February, the most recent month for which AOGCC data are available, up 18.65% from February 2024.
Kitchen Lights produces from the Julius R platform and production has been limited because the platform had only six surface well slots. Work the company completed recently doubled the number of surface well slots to 12, Hendrix told Petroleum News in March. He said at that time that the possibility of operating more wells from the platform gives Furie greater confidence in signing long-term gas supply contracts, as it provides the potential for backup wells in support of its gas production.
Hilcorp Hilcorp purchased the Spartan 151 in May 2024 with the intention of assuring that the jack-up remained in Alaska. The Spartan 151 is a 150 H class independent leg, cantilevered jack-up capable of drilling up to 25,000 feet and operating in water up to 151 feet deep. Hilcorp Jack-Up Rig Company LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hilcorp.
In February, Furie provided 7.54% of inlet natural gas, while Hilcorp -- excluding Chugach Electric Association's majority share in the Beluga River field -- accounted for 73.98% of inlet natural gas. Because Hilcorp is the Beluga operator, it is responsible for producing 89.96% of inlet natural gas.
--KRISTEN NELSON
| 