A Texas-based company announced Tuesday it has secured funding to drill a new well in Cook Inlet and could bring new natural gas to market as soon as next year.
BlueCrest Energy Inc. estimates it can extract 25 million cubic feet of natural gas per day once the new well comes online. That amounts to about 13% of the annual demand for Cook Inlet gas.
BlueCrest says it will drill from an existing pad on the east side of Cook Inlet. The company owns all of the so-called Cosmopolitan Field near Anchor Point, which it has long said holds proven but undeveloped natural gas reserves.
“We know the gas is there,” BlueCrest CEO Benjamin Johnson told state lawmakers about the Cosmopolitan Unit in 2024. “There's no question. It is a matter of getting the funding to develop that gas, and that's what our main focus is.”
It’s been less than a month since the state Department of Natural Resources threatened to revoke the company’s leases. The department wrote the company a stern letter, giving BlueCrest 30 days to prove it could fund more development, or risk losing access to the unit.
In 2023, BlueCrest received a $30 million grant from Alaska’s state-run development agency to support its onshore drilling efforts in the Cosmopolitan Unit.
BlueCrest’s announcement comes as Southcentral Alaska’s largest natural gas utility says demand for gas could outpace supply as soon as this winter. ENSTAR Natural Gas says it could run 18 days short of supply if this winter follows typical temperature trends.
Cook Inlet’s largest developer, Hilcorp Alaska, has warned for years that it’s no longer economic to spend more money drilling for riskier gas in the state’s oldest basin. The advent of the Cook Inlet gas shortage has sent companies scrambling to secure enough resources for the region’s relatively small market.
With the new development, BlueCrest says it’s proud it will be part of the solution to that energy crisis. Johnson, the company CEO, declined to answer questions about the announcement, saying the company would prefer to let the news release speak for itself.
