Hilcorp asks the state to dissolve a Cook Inlet unit and plug five offshore wells

Hilcorp Alaska has asked the state to dissolve its North Trading Bay Unit in Cook Inlet and permanently plug five of nine offshore wells at the Spurr Platform. A unit is state approval to work several leases as one field; ending it does not end them.

The Aug. 3 letter to Haley Paine, director of the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas, withdrew the plan of development Hilcorp filed May 1 and asked for voluntary termination effective Nov. 1, 2026. The unit's three leases, covering 1,840 acres, would remain in force, with rentals, royalties and plugging obligations. Two date to Sept. 1, 1962. The third dates to June 2020.

Hilcorp also asked to suspend operations and production on those leases from Nov. 1, 2026, through Oct. 31, 2029, calling it "necessary and justified in the interest of conservation." The suspension would let it meet the plugging requirements of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's Other Order 193.001 while preserving wells with future utility. That order's text was not independently reviewed. Its requirements are known only from Hilcorp's description.

Eight of the nine wells are suspended. SPR-07 is shut-in, closed at the surface. Hilcorp proposes plugging five by Nov. 16, 2028, and keeping four suspended for potential future use. Other milestones include witnessed well inspections reported to the commission this year, a platform construction plan due by Dec. 31, 2026, and a funding decision due by March 31, 2029.

Approval would not relieve Hilcorp of plugging, permitting, lease or payment obligations, the letter states. It gives no cost for the plugging program and no production figures. It does not say whether a public comment period will open.

The regulation Hilcorp cites, 11 AAC 83.336, answers it: a unit may be terminated at any time with the commissioner's approval, and sets no notice or comment step.

Cook Inlet's gas output has fallen from more than 300 billion cubic feet a year in the 1990s to 60 to 70 billion cubic feet as its fields mature.

The division had published no ruling as of Sept. 2. Both approvals are sought effective Nov. 1, leaving the state to act before then.