Hilcorp eyes gas exploration near Anchor Point

An oil platform at dusk
Cook Inlet oil platforms are visible from shore near Kenai, Alaska. (Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

Hilcorp Alaska is looking to build two gas exploration wells near Anchor Point later this year.

The Texas-based company has requested approval from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to build an oil-gas combination well and a gas-only well in Whiskey Gulch, three miles northeast of Anchor Point. It also wants to build a gravel pad and access road on the privately-owned property above the lease.

The proposal is for a gas prospect: An ENSTAR Natural Gas line runs past the site down the peninsula.

Hilcorp is the biggest oil and gas producer in Cook Inlet. The Texas-based company owns several onshore gas wells, including the Seaview Unit south of Anchor Point, and operates most of the inlet’s offshore platforms.

Hilcorp drilled five test wells to assess the geology in Whiskey Gulch last summer, including two on the lease involved in its current proposal. All were plugged and abandoned in July, according to data from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

In its application, the company proposed constructing the gravel access road and pad in April. The Department of Natural Resources says the company could start drilling June 1. Any future production would need to be approved in a separate permitting process.

You can find Hilcorp’s application here. Send comments to DNR by March 4 at dog.permitting@alaska.gov.

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