David Hall and Cook Inlet Energy: relishing fifth year as oil and gas operator.

• Author: Loy, Wesley
• Position: OIL & GAS

A press release issued in December 2009 declared: "Alaska has given birth to a new oil and gas company named Cook Inlet Energy."

It was an easy announcement to overlook. Oil and gas startups don't warrant much notice in a state dominated by the likes of BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil.

Now, nearly five years later, Cook Inlet Energy looks to be for real.

The Anchorage-based company has brought a collection of abandoned assets back to life. And it's pursuing an ambitious slate of projects that could make serious waves in the Cook Inlet basin.

"We want to be as aggressive as we can and be one of the top producers, if not the top producer, in the Cook Inlet," says David Hall, the company's chief executive.

Cook Inlet Energy operates two main producing properties on the inlet's west side: the Osprey offshore platform and the West McArthur River oil field.

In February, the company expanded to the east side, adding the North Fork natural gas field on the Kenai Peninsula.

Cook Inlet Energy has big plans for all the properties, aiming to grow production quickly. To carry out the work, company executives have borrowed heavily and pulled together a fleet of drilling rigs.

Cook Inlet Energy is a subsidiary of Miller Energy Resources, Inc., a publicly traded company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Most of Miller's production comes from Alaska through the work of Hall's team.

The story of Cook Inlet Energy is, to a large degree, Hall's story.

Spotting Opportunity

Hall, forty-five, is a veteran of the inlet oil scene. Working for the previous owners, he gained hands-on knowledge of Osprey and West McArthur River.

"I started out in the field with my tools," Hall says.

He went from electrician to lead operator to production foreman, learning all aspects of running an oil and gas production facility. He also has an engineering background.

Hall was there in 2000 when the hulking Osprey platform, built in South Korea, was floated into the inlet and set in place. He spent the night on the platform before it had power and lights.

"It was pretty lonely and quiet," he says.

The company that conceived the Osprey project, Forcenergy, Inc., would merge with Forest Oil Corporation.

In 2007, a California-based company, Pacific Energy Resources Ltd., bought Forest Oil's Alaska assets.

Hall persevered through all the ownership changes, becoming vice president and general manager of Alaska operations for Pacific Energy.

When low oil prices and other troubles...