Hilcorp plans 3 wells to bring Sterling gas field back online

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Hilcorp Alaska has plans to bring a nonproducing Kenai Peninsula gas field back into production.

The company has applied to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for spacing exceptions to allow it to drill three wells closer than 1,500 feet to a property line where ownership changes in the Sterling gas field east of Kenai.

Two of the wells would be new; the third is a redrill of a well which was an early producer at the field.

AOGCC records show the Sterling gas field last produced in 2014. It was brought online by Marathon in 1962 and has produced some 14.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Hilcorp acquired the field in 2013.

In a July 2017 revised 47th plan of development and operations submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Hilcorp said two producing wells went offline in 2014 and "subsequent remediation of the wells with eline and slickline efforts were unsuccessful in returning the field to production in 2016."

Hilcorp applied for a suspension of production which was denied. BLM terminated the unit in 2017.

The three wells Hilcorp is currently applying to drill are Sterling Unit 32-16, Sterling Unit 43-10RD and Sterling Unit 43-10.

The commission has tentatively scheduled a public hearing on the spacing exceptions for March 13 at 10 a.m. at its Anchorage offices. The audio call in number is 907-202-7104 conference ID 160 146 389#.

If there are no timely requests for the hearing, the commission said it may issue an order without a hearing. To learn if a hearing will be held call 907-793-1223 after Feb. 25.

--KRISTEN NELSON