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Hilcorp applies to expand Ivan River pad
Company plans more wells at small west side gas field, where production is down since a recent peak in 2022 of 12,153 mcf per day
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska is proposing to expand the pad at its west side Cook Inlet Ivan River gas field to allow drilling of additional wells. In August the company applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas for an amendment to its Ivan River unit plan of operations, an application public noticed by the division Sept. 11, with comments on the proposal due Oct. 11.
The Ivan River unit was formed in 1967 by Standard Oil Company of California and Hilcorp took over as operator from Union Oil Company of California in January 2012 the division said in its May approval of the 54th plan of development for the unit.
Ivan River produces from an undefined gas pool discovered by Standard in 1966, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said in its pool statistics. No production occurred until 1990 until the company, then named Union Oil Company of California, began regular production through Ivan River unit 44-01. Three additional wells were drilled in the early 1990s.
Work which Hilcorp proposed for the current POD, which covers June 1 through May 31, 2025, includes pad and facility work to support 2025 drilling, the division said.
Pad expansion Hilcorp's application shows a pad expansion to the southwest and southeast of the existing L-shaped pad. The division said the expansion would be 2.1 acres and require 17,300 cubic yards of gravel fill "abutting existing infrastructure to support current and future natural gas exploration and development activities" in the unit.
The Ivan River unit is on state-owned land within the Susitna Flats Game Refuge, some 17 miles by car from Beluga, the company said.
Additional development wells are planned for 2025 with the pad expansion providing space for the drill rig for the new wells and "allowing safe access and uninterrupted facility operations."
The company said the project is in wetlands and will require a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 individual permit.
Gravel may be sourced for an old pad or other local existing gravel source, Hilcorp said, and included a photo of the old Stump Lake Pad, a potential gravel source, in its application.
Schedule Hilcorp said in its application that it anticipates the start of construction this fall, continuing through next summer as needed.
However, the company said its schedule is "highly dependent on obtaining necessary permit authorizations, weather, and associated factors of gravel mining, movement, and placement."
The plan is to place gravel in late fall or early spring, with expansion gravel to be placed from the existing pad.
Permit authorizations would be obtained in the fall and final survey activities conducted. Gravel hauling and placement would occur from fall through spring; gravel would be re-worked in the summer and construction work completed.
Recent production AOGCC production data show Ivan River production declining from a recent high in July 2022 when the field accounted for almost 6% of inlet gas production.
This July Ivan River averaged 1.86 million cubic feet per day, 0.99% of inlet gas production, down 65.65% from a July 2023 average of 5.42 million cubic feet per day, when the field accounted for 2.73% of inlet production and down 55.4% from a July 2022 average of 12.15 million cubic feet per day, 5.97% of inlet total.
In January 2012, when Hilcorp took over Ivan River, production averaged 3.1 million cubic feet per day from two of the field's four wells; a fifth well was online by July 2023, with four wells producing in that month.
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