Hilcorp seeks Cook Inlet gas storage lease at Beluga River — part of how Southcentral plans to get through winter as gas production declines

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is taking public comment on Hilcorp Alaska's application for a gas storage lease at the Beluga River Unit on the west side of Cook Inlet. The lease would let Hilcorp inject and store natural gas in depleted or partially depleted reservoirs for winter peak demand — one piece of a larger Southcentral effort to manage Cook Inlet's documented natural gas supply decline.

The storage need is straightforward. Southcentral households and utilities use far more gas in winter than summer. ENSTAR president John Sims explained the math at a recent briefing: "You can see in the summer months, obviously we're not consuming as much gas here as a community. So between 45 million a day and in the wintertime, that ramps up to 162 million a day. Reminder, our total peak demand day is 320. So how do we get to that 320? We supplant that with storage that we've procured, whether it's Cook Inlet, Natural Gas Storage, Alaska."

The Beluga River application is part of a broader storage build-out. Chugach Electric Association secured a gas storage contract with Hilcorp Alaska Gas Storage in February that provides 1.5 billion cubic feet of reserved capacity, expandable over three years. Storage at Beluga River would use the same depleted-field structure Hilcorp previously leased in the area's 71-3 gas sands — an 863-acre lease the company released during the 2015 plan of development period, according to Division of Oil and Gas records.

The proposed lease area overlaps habitat that raises the stakes. The west side of Cook Inlet near the Beluga River mouth is documented salmon habitat and falls within NOAA Fisheries' designated critical habitat for the Cook Inlet beluga whale population. NOAA listed the population as endangered in 2008 and designated its critical habitat in 2011. The Cook Inlet beluga is one of NOAA's most concerning marine mammal stocks: estimates put the current population at about 300 individuals, down from roughly 1,300 in the late 1970s, and the agency has not yet been able to reverse the decline.

Any gas storage project requires a lease from DNR and technical approval from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission before gas can be injected. The public notice invites written comments from residents, utilities, tribal entities, conservation groups, and other stakeholders on potential environmental, subsistence, and economic impacts. Comments can be submitted online or by mail to the Division of Oil and Gas in Anchorage.