Hilcorp seeks renewal of its oil spill plan for 12 Cook Inlet platforms

Hilcorp Alaska has asked the state to renew its oil spill plan for 12 Cook Inlet platforms and two Kenai Peninsula oil fields, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said in a notice Monday. The public can comment through Dec. 1.

The plan lays out how Hilcorp would prevent and respond to a spill from its wells, drilling, processing, crude and fuel storage, and pipelines. State law requires it to commit enough resources to handle what regulators call "a realistic maximum discharge." One of the what-if scenarios in the current plan is a 75,000-barrel winter blowout at the King Salmon platform. That plan expires June 6, 2027.

The platforms are Anna, Baker, Bruce, Dolly Varden, Granite Point, Grayling, King Salmon, Monopod, Platform A, Platform C, Spurr and Steelhead. Each either produces oil or has former production wells that haven't been plugged and abandoned to state standards, the department said. The plan also covers the Granite Point Tank Farm and Trading Bay Production Facility on the west side of the inlet, and the Beaver Creek and Swanson River fields inside the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

Spurr, built in 1968, hasn't produced oil since 1992. It and the Spark platform are in what the state's decision calls "lighthouse mode": unmanned, with only navigation lights and corrosion protection left running. In October, the state Division of Oil and Gas let Hilcorp end the unit around the two platforms and suspend production for three years, Alaska News reported Oct. 22. Hilcorp has committed to deciding whether to restart Spurr by March 31, 2029.

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has ordered Spurr's remaining wells plugged by Nov. 16, 2028. Ending the unit doesn't release Hilcorp from responsibility for plugging and restoring the wells and facilities, the division said in its decision.

People can comment online or in writing. Residents of the affected area or an affected municipality can request a public hearing in writing before Nov. 16. The department will hold one only if it finds good cause.