The safety of nearby Anchor Point residents is a top priority as BlueCrest Energy plans to drill up to ten oil wells on the 37.5 acres known as the Hansen Pad over the next five years.
Health, Safety, and Environmental Manager Larry Burgess says they are working on an emergency notice system since the on-shore operation is near neighborhoods.
Burgess: “Once that notice is given that there’s an emergency that would require an evacuation, the Troopers would be notified at the same time that the neighbors are notified. Now that could either be by air horn, by a PA system, by a reverse 911 system, there’s all kinds of options so we’re trying to see the most effective for our little area right there.”
Along with safety, the company is working on mitigating noise and light pollution in the area.
Burgess: “We have micro-turbines on site that generate power and they are very silent, you and I could be having this conversation standing right next to them, I’ve done it so I know. The other noisy thing as far as production is concerned are the large compressors we have, they have large CAT engines. We’ve put a lot of extra money into silencing these things down to what’s called hospital grade silencers.”
He says when the 3,000 horsepower oil rig arrives prior to oil production in April or May, there will be some noise that cannot be controlled. Burgess says community meetings will continue to gauge neighborhood impacts from the project.
After the ten wells are in place BlueCrest is planning for peak production of 17,000 barrels of oil per day.