Buccaneer Energy “has done a little reshaping, streamlining operations,” Jay Morakis of JMR Worldwide and the media contact for the company told the Homer News late last month. 

One result of the changes is that Christina Anderson, formerly Buccaneer’s environmental and stakeholder relations manager, is no longer with the company. Anderson gave an update on Buccaneer’s operation at the Homer City Council’s regular meeting on Dec. 9.

Mark Landt, vice president of land and business development, will resume his role as the local contact. He can be reached through Buccaneer’s Anchorage office at 907-868-3344.

“He was the contact before (Anderson) was hired. He’ll just take the role he had before she was brought on,” said Morakis.

Landt was in Homer in July for meetings with the public in Homer and at McNeil Canyon Elementary School. He has a 25-year history in the oil and gas industry, with 15 years directly in Alaska and five years located in Alaska, according to information provided by Buccaneer. Landt began his career with ARCO, and, over the course of 25 years, has served in land, acquisition, divestiture and managerial positions both in the United States and internationally. He has a bachelor of business administration in petroleum land management from the University of Oklahoma.

In Homer, Buccaneer maintains an office at 412 Pioneer Ave. 

In other news from Buccaneer, the Glacier Rig has been moved from Kenai to the site of the West Eagle project 21 miles east of Homer, but drilling has not yet begun. The project targets a 150-foot Upper Tyonek interval of sandstones where gas has been indicated. 

“The West Eagle well will test a large amplitude anomaly mapped on 233 miles of 2D seismic data,” according to a Dec. 19 press release. The size of that anomaly is estimated at more than 4,000 acres.

Under the terms of a unit agreement with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Buccaneer was required to spud, drill, the well before Dec. 1 to retain a $600,000 bond. The agreement also required the well to be completed to approximately 5,200 feet by Jan. 31 in order to retain a second $600,000 bond and the acreage within the approved unit.

“Once the well has been completed, the company will explore its options with DNR regarding the status of the first bond,” said the press release. 

Testing of the well, once drilling is complete, is anticipated to take an additional eight days.

While Buccaneer awaits guidance from Alaska regulatory groups regarding approval of the company’s applications for its offshore winter drilling operations, the jack-up rig Endeavour-Spirit of Independence remains in Port Graham. The rig spent last winter in Homer before being moved to the Cosmopolitan site near Stariski.

In August, Buccaneer Energy CEO Curtis Burton said he was “very pleased” with results from the Cosmo No. 1 exploration. The Cosmo No. 2 well will be limited to the gas zones intersected in the Cosmo No. 1 well, and will be drilled in a way to “further understand the extent of the gas field,” said the Dec. 19 press release. 

As operator of the Cosmopolitan Project, Buccaneer applied to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Oct. 8 to drill the Cosmo No. 2 site. It is still waiting for direction from the agency regarding the company’s drilling plan and timing.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.