The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission softened its enforcement actions on Cook Inlet Energy, LLC after the company requested a review of a proposed $295,000 fine stemming from a flare up of more than 24,000 mcf — or 24 million cubic feet — of natural gas from its Kustatan Production facility.
The violations occurred between Nov. 26, 2013 and Feb. 28 of 2014 when the company did not shut-in one of its gas wells while it was overhauling its Kustatan Production Facility intermittent flaring throughout a several month period.
The conservation commission asserted that the company did not seek approval for the flaring, while the company claimed that flaring authorization it had previously received form the commission was unclear.
They found that Cook Inlet Energy violated regulations and must comply with corrective actions which include a description and example of its regulatory compliance tracking program, a root cause analysis addressing the violations and a time line for implementing corrective actions and evidence that its personnel would be trained in the conservation commission’s regulatory requirements.
The commission dropped the $295,000 fine from its final enforcement actions.
— Staff report
