Buccaneer Energy’s jack-up rig Endeavour has moved from the Cosmopolitan Unit in Cook Inlet to the Southern Cross Unit, but has yet to spud a well. Onshore, the company is planning to move the Glacier drilling rig from Kenai to the West Eagle Unit east of Homer.
Christina Anderson is Buccaneer’s stakeholder relations manager for Alaska. Anderson gave a 30-minute presentation in Homer Friday as part of a board meeting held by the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council.
Anderson says the company has six offshore wells in the Cook Inlet region and three onshore wells. The company is using the Glacier drilling rig for its onshore activities, which right now are focused in Kenai.
“If you’ve been to Kenai and you’ve been to Wal-Mart, then you’ve been near our wells,” said Anderson. “It’s a beautiful, quiet facility.”
There are three wells in the area near the Kenai Wal-Mart, although Anderson says more are planned for the future.
The company is now working toward mobilizing the Glacier drilling rig to move from Kenai to the West Eagle Unit east of Homer. Anderson says Buccaneer has secured the water and fuel contracts it needs to get started and is working with the state department of transportation on a plan to transport the large rig down East End Road.
She says the company expects to work a tight timeline, getting the Glacier rig in and out of West Eagle before the first snow flies.
“It doesn’t take much time to do what we need to do … because of the (shallow) depth of the well,” she said.
The company’s Endeavor jack-up rig has been drilling offshore at the Cosmopolitan Unit near Anchor Point since March, where it successfully drilled one well before being moved last month to the Southern Cross Unit further up the inlet.
Anderson says Buccaneer drilled one well at Cosmo and found both oil and natural gas. She says official records of what the company found at Cosmo likely won’t be released until next month.
During an inspection of the Endeavor in July, Anderson says three compliance issues were found. She says a copy of the company’s blowout control plan was not where it was supposed to be, a piece of equipment was not the right size and a high-level alarm was not installed. Anderson says the issues have since been resolved.
The Endeavor rig has not yet spudded a well at Southern Cross. Anderson says the rig will likely stay there until the end of the drilling season. She says she does not know where Endeavor will spend the winter.
Buccaneer has two offices open on the Kenai Peninsula, one in Kenai and a newly opened office in downtown Homer.
