Furie Operating Alaska on Monday announced they’d renewed a lease with a Hilcorp subsidiary to use their jack-up rig this year as they drill up to two new natural gas wells in the coming months.

Furie’s release says the lease is between them and Hilcorp Jack-Up Rig Company, a Hilcorp subsidiary. They’ll use Hilcorp’s Spartan-151 jack-up rig this year in “an important step” forward by Furie and Hilcorp working together to produce more Cook Inlet natural gas for Alaskans. Drilling is expected to begin as early as mid-April in the Kitchen Lights Unit, located in Cook Inlet directly north of Nikiski.

A jack-up rig is a mobile platform that can be transported and deployed in different areas. Furie’s release says the Spartan-151 can be used at water depths of up to 151 feet, drilling up to 25,000 feet deep. It was purchased by Hilcorp last year “to ensure the only jack-up drilling rig in Alaska did not leave the state at a critical time for natural gas development.”

Furie is currently the second largest producer in the inlet, the release says. It has used the jack-up rig at different times since 2015 to drill in its Kitchen Lights Unit. Furie President and CEO John Hendrix says in the release that drilling this year is happening because they received royalty relief from the State Department of Natural Resources in February.

“Furie recently increased the number of wells that can be drilled from our platform, and now with the help of Hilcorp’s jack-up rig, we will drill this spring,” he says in the release. “Drilling will allow new gas to be online for the Railbelt in advance of the 2025/2026 winter. Together with Hilcorp, we are demonstrating that Alaskans working together can develop more critically needed energy from the Cook Inlet basin.”

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.