ANCHORAGE - A Texas company plans to drill a natural gas exploration well near Glennallen this winter, the first in the Copper River Basin in more than 20 years.
Midland, Texas-based Rutter and Wilbanks Corp. has filed an application for an oil discharge prevention and contingency plan with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
The well would be about 12 miles west of Glennallen. It would be the first well in Alaska's undeveloped Copper River Basin since Copper Valley Machine Works drilled the Alicia No. 1 well in 1983.
The company, which has never operated in Alaska before, plans to drill in February to a depth of 7,500 feet. It would be the deepest well ever drilled in the region, said Rutter and Wilbanks executive Bill Rutter III.
"We hope to take a look at some rocks no one's ever drilled out there before," he said. "We hope find what we're looking for and something more."
The company has hired longtime Alaska contractor, The Fairweather Group, to handle its operations.
If natural gas is found, additional drilling may occur year-round, Rutter and Wilbanks' DEC application said.
Rutter said he hopes a major gas discovery would "stimulate the North Slope spur line concept" and convince the state to first build a section of a gas line from Glennallen to Palmer.
"That could eventually lead to a spur line north to tap into a North Slope gas pipeline," he said.
A pipeline from Glennallen to Anchorage via Palmer would cost $60 million to $70 million, Rutter said. Other options include taking the gas to a facility in Valdez or building a gas-to-liquids plant.
Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority chief executive Harold Heinze said building a spur line to Southcentral Alaska was a priority.
"If they (Rutter and Wilbanks) found something of significance, it is a fit with what might happen," Heinze said.
