Notice of Public Hearing
STATE OF ALASKA
ALASKA OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION
RE: Docket Number: CO-22-012
Hilcorp Alaska, LLC’s Spacing Exception to drill the Pearl 9 well in the Pearl Undefined Gas Pool and the Ninilchik Beluga-Tyonek Gas Pool, Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska
Hilcorp Alaska, LLC (Hilcorp), by letter dated September 16, 2022, submitted a revision request to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) to revise Conservation Order 701D (CO 701D), allowing Hilcorp to complete, test, and produce the Pearl 9 well in the Pearl Undefined Gas Pool within 1,500 feet of a property line where the owners and landowners are not the same on both sides of the line and in the Ninilchik Beluga/Tyonek Gas Pool within 1,500 feet from the exterior boundary of the Affected Area of Conservation Order 701C (CO 701 C), pursuant to 20 AAC 25.055 and Rule 3 of CO 701C.
Well spacing regulations protect the oil and gas rights of adjacent landowners and maximize resource recovery by establishing default limits on how close, under the land's surface, oil and gas wells can be to each other and to property lines where ownership changes hands. These limits are set forth in a regulation, 20 AAC 25.055. Operators must abide by the default well spacing limits (referred to as statewide spacing requirements) unless they apply for, and obtain, an exception to those limits. Although exceptions to the default well spacing requirements are not unusual, AOGCC carefully evaluates each application, and typically grants them only when actual geologic conditions demonstrate that the proposed subsurface location of a well is necessary to reach otherwise unreachable oil or gas and that both the rights of adjacent landowners and underground drinking water can be protected. As a general matter, AOGCC does not have extensive authority over surface impacts such as noise, emissions, or construction.
This notice does not contain all the information filed by Hilcorp. You may obtain more information about this filing by contacting the AOGCC’s Special Assistant, Samantha Carlisle, at (907) 793-1223 or samantha.carlisle@alaska.gov.
A public hearing on the matter has been tentatively scheduled for November 3, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. The hearing, which may be changed to full virtual, if necessary, will be held in the AOGCC hearing room located at 333 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501. The audio call-in information is: (907) 202-7104 Conference ID: 458 918 175#. Anyone who wishes to participate remotely using MS Teams video conference should contact Ms. Carlisle at least two business days before the scheduled public hearing to request an invitation for MS Teams. To request that the tentatively scheduled hearing be held, a written request must be filed with the AOGCC no later than 4:30 p.m. on October 13. 2022.
If a request for a hearing is not timely filed, the AOGCC may issue an order without a hearing. To learn if the AOGCC will hold the hearing, call (907) 793-1223 after October 13, 2022.
In additions, written comments regarding this application may be submitted to the AOGCC at 333 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99501 or samantha.carlisle@alaska.gov. Comments must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. on November 2, 2022, except that if a hearing is held, comments must be received no later than the conclusion of the November 3, 2022 hearing
If, because of a disability, special accommodations may be needed to comment or attend the hearing, contact Samantha Carlisle at (907) 793-1223, no later than October 27, 2022.
Jessie L. Chmielowski
Commissioner