Комиссия Аляски одобрила новые скважины и инфраструктуру для газовой месторождения Pretty Creek

Alaska's source for oil and gas news The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas has approved amendments to unit plans of operation submitted by Hilcorp Alaska for its Pretty Creek unit on the west side of Cook Inlet, and in related approvals, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has issued drilling permits for the Pretty Creek Unit 06 and 06A wells on Pad 2 and the PCU D-12 well on the Diamond Pad. The division's approvals were issued Aug. 28. AOGCC's drilling permits were approved Aug. 21 for the PCU 06 and 06A wells and Aug. 27 for the PCU D-12. Production from Pretty Creek, a gas field, averaged 3,423 thousand cubic feet per day in July, the most recent month for which Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission production data are available. In July 2025 production averaged 242 mcf per day, 0.07% of inlet gas production. This July the field's volume was 1.68% of the inlet's volume. New pad Hilcorp built the Diamond Pad at Pretty Creek in 2025 to give it access to undeveloped leases within the Pretty Creek unit. When the division approved the new pad last May it said there were originally two pads at the field, Pretty Creek 1 Pad and Pretty Creek 2 Pad. The Pretty Creek 1 Pad was rehabilitated in 1978, the division said and is no longer in use. Pretty Creek 2 Pad was expanded in 2025. In a briefing to the Alaska House Resources Committee Jan. 28, Luke Saugier, Hilcorp Alaska senior vice president, said Pretty Creek was an area where Hilcorp was developing additional gas but with no road access work there and barging required, development in the area is limited to summer when the inlet is ice free. He said Hilcorp built the new pad and drilled new wells at Pretty Creek in a single year to get the gas online. When the division approved Diamond Pad last year it said up to five wells were planned. This year's work In the Aug. 28 approvals the division said work at the Diamond Pad includes drilling a new grassroots well and installing associated infrastructure including gas flowlines, electrical instrumentation and line heaters, and tying the new well into existing infrastructure on the pad. Temporary drilling equipment will include the rig and pipe, boilers, mud tanks and mud pumps, rig generators, work trailers for supervisory and support staff and light plants, will all activities planned to take place within the existing footprint of the Diamond Pad. The Diamond Pad is some 9 miles northeast of the Beluga Airport on the west side of Cook Inlet within the Susitna Flats Game Refuge. Work at Pretty Creek Pad 2 includes a new grassroots well and installation of associated infrastructure to facilitate increased gas production, the division said. As with the well at the Diamond Pad, the new well at Pad 2 will be tied into existing infrastructure and require addition of similar infrastructure and use of drilling equipment. As with the well at the Diamond Pad, work at Pad 2 is expected to take place within the existing pad footprint. Pad 2 is on the west side of Cook Inlet some 5 miles northeast of the mouth of the Beluga River within the Susitna Flats Game Refuge. AOGCC records show four wells producing this year at Pretty Creek: two at the Diamond Pad and two at Pad 2.