A Cook Inlet Oil and Gas producer will have to make a major modification to its oil spill clean-up plan.
Buccaneer Energy operates producing gas wells near Kenai and a jack-up rig for exploratory drilling in Cook Inlet.
Last year the company found oil and gas from its offshore Cosmopolitan #1 well, and had plans to drill a second well this winter. The company has been waiting for the go-ahead from state agencies, who is asking the company for additional spill response plans.
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission determined Buccaneer's proposed #2 well could potentially tap into oil, and says asking for an oil spill cleanup plan is now needed before winter drilling can commence.
“The obvious safety and environmental consequences of a spill, and also the potential damage to industry if something like this were to happen, causes us to be fairly conservative in our determination,” said geologist Dan Seamount with AOGCC.
Buccaneer says the decision means its jack-up rig will have to stay in Port Gram until the summer drilling season.
Buccaneer and its joint venture partner BlueCrest Energy say they plan to appeal the commission's decision.