Monday, April 04, 2011
Alaska Journal of Commerce
by Tim Bradner
In some much-needed good news for the state's oil and gas industry, Cook Inlet Energy has received approvals on its plan to redevelop the small Redoubt Shoal oil field in Cook Inlet and restart production at the shut-in Opsprey platform at the field, company officials said March 28.
Cook Inlet Energy is a subsidiary of Tennessee-based Miller Energy Resources.
Final state approvals came with an agreement by the state Department of Natural Resources to the company's development plan on March 14 and approval of terms for an additional $12 million to be paid into a performance bond on March 16.
Cook Inlet Energy has begun hiring staff and has workers now on the platform to restart its systems. Company CEO David Hall said the company has hired seven new employees. Contractors being retained will employ more people, he said.
Cook Inlet expects to begin workover operations on three shut-in wells on the platform in April and to begin production soon after.
"We are initially targeting three wells, two that entail replacement of downhole electrical submersible pumps, and should quickly add 400 barrels per day to our production. The third workover well requires reactivation of a previously producing gas well," Scott Boruff, president Miller Energy, said in a statement.
When that work is done the company will turn its attention to additional previously producing wells on the platform, Boruff said. There are eight producing and injector wells on the platform.
Hall said a snubbing unit, a type of small drill rig, will be used in the near-term work, and the unit is now being shipped to Cook Inlet. However, a conventional drill rig will be needed to work over and reactivate the remaining wells.
The company is now looking for a suitable rig. Hall said he hopes one can be found that can also be used in drilling onshore prospects on the west side of the Inlet after the platform work is done.
At its peak the platform produced about 4,500 barrels per day from the Redoubt Shoal field.
Cook Inlet Energy now produces approximately 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent, including crude oil and natural gas, from nearby onshore wells in the West MacArthur River field, which Cook Inlet also owns. The oil is transported by the Cook Inlet Pipe Line to a tanker loading facility at Drift River, on the west side of Cook Inlet.
The Osprey platform and the West MacArthur field were shut down in 2009 when the previous owners, Pacific Energy Resources, declared bankruptcy. Miller Energy acquired the properties in a bankruptcy auction and began plans for redevelopment of both properties.
Cook Inlet Energy is a subsidiary of Tennessee-based Miller Energy Resources.
Final state approvals came with an agreement by the state Department of Natural Resources to the company's development plan on March 14 and approval of terms for an additional $12 million to be paid into a performance bond on March 16.
Cook Inlet Energy has begun hiring staff and has workers now on the platform to restart its systems. Company CEO David Hall said the company has hired seven new employees. Contractors being retained will employ more people, he said.
Cook Inlet expects to begin workover operations on three shut-in wells on the platform in April and to begin production soon after.
"We are initially targeting three wells, two that entail replacement of downhole electrical submersible pumps, and should quickly add 400 barrels per day to our production. The third workover well requires reactivation of a previously producing gas well," Scott Boruff, president Miller Energy, said in a statement.
When that work is done the company will turn its attention to additional previously producing wells on the platform, Boruff said. There are eight producing and injector wells on the platform.
Hall said a snubbing unit, a type of small drill rig, will be used in the near-term work, and the unit is now being shipped to Cook Inlet. However, a conventional drill rig will be needed to work over and reactivate the remaining wells.
The company is now looking for a suitable rig. Hall said he hopes one can be found that can also be used in drilling onshore prospects on the west side of the Inlet after the platform work is done.
At its peak the platform produced about 4,500 barrels per day from the Redoubt Shoal field.
Cook Inlet Energy now produces approximately 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent, including crude oil and natural gas, from nearby onshore wells in the West MacArthur River field, which Cook Inlet also owns. The oil is transported by the Cook Inlet Pipe Line to a tanker loading facility at Drift River, on the west side of Cook Inlet.
The Osprey platform and the West MacArthur field were shut down in 2009 when the previous owners, Pacific Energy Resources, declared bankruptcy. Miller Energy acquired the properties in a bankruptcy auction and began plans for redevelopment of both properties.
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