The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved a permit from Hilcorp Alaska LLC to conduct a geophysical survey in the federal waters of Cook Inlet, offshore southcentral Alaska. The area to be surveyed is in the lower Cook Inlet, west of Kachemak Bay, the US Department of the Interior agency’s Anchorage office said.
It said Hilcorp expects to begin the survey in late summer or early fall. The company will have 60 days to complete the survey, the exact length of which will depend on weather and any schedule adjustments needed to protect marine mammals, BOEM Alaska noted.
The survey area comprises 42 OCS blocks, including 8 of Hilcorp’s 14 leased blocks, covering 969 sq km.
It said that the producer acquired 14 US Outer Continental Shelf blocks during OCS Lease Sale 244 in June 2017. Hilcorp’s survey would be the first in Cook Inlet since one that Veritas DGC conducted in July 2005. Vessel-based monitoring for marine mammals will be conducted by trained protected species observers deployed on vessels during the survey, the agency said.
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