The state has approved Hilcorp’s plans to drill two gas exploration wells near Anchor Point.
As early as Thursday, the company could start construction on a gravel exploration pad for the company’s Whiskey Gulch prospect. Hilcorp plans to drill two exploration wells there — an oil-gas combination well and gas-only well. An ENSTAR Natural Gas line runs by the site.
Hilcorp proposed drilling the first well in May, testing it in June and suspending and securing it in July. It would drill the second well in July and secure it in September.
Hilcorp also wants to improve the access road to the pad, which begins at the intersection of Cape Ninilchik Avenue and Opportunity Lane.
Plans for Whiskey Gulch are still in the exploration stage. But Hilcorp is slated to begin production soon on another well on the southern Kenai Peninsula: Seaview 8, south of Anchor Point. Hilcorp plans to start production there later this year, after construction delays in 2020.