Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry Hilcorp plans exploratory well inside the Beluga River unit Alan Bailey for Petroleum News Hilcorp Alaska has filed a proposed modification to its Beluga River unit plan of development, saying that in the fourth quarter of this year the company plans to drill a new well in the unit into rock formations below the current field reservoirs. Since the well will test for new hydrocarbon resources in the unit, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission classifies the well as exploratory. The new well will be drilled from the K pad in the unit, the site of an existing gas production well in the more northerly part of the unit. Hilcorp has applied to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for a modification to its oil spill contingency plan for Cook Inlet exploration, to accommodate the exploratory drilling from K pad.