Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has applied for a drilling permit for the 1 Lone Creek exploratory well at the Moquawkie prospect on the west side of Cook Inlet. The well will be a vertical hole some seven miles north of Tyonek.
As previously reported by PNA, the company told regulators earlier this year that it planned two wells at the prospect, which is on Tyonek surface land and Cook Inlet Region Inc. subsurface.
The 1 Lone Creek is within a mile of Superior Oil Co.’s 1962 1 and 2 Chuit, vertical wells drilled to 12,500 feet and 9,152 feet respectively.
The other proposed location is within a mile of the Moquawkie gas field, discovered by Socony Mobil Oil Co. Inc. in 1965 and shut in. The 8,015-foot 1 West Moquawkie was drilled by Mobil Oil Co. in 1970.
Anadarko plans to use Nabors Alaska Drilling Inc. rig 160, which has been drilling for Forcenergy Inc. at the West McArthur River field at West Foreland southwest of Tyonek. Anadarko spokeswoman Kate Corrigan told PNA April 27 that the company hopes to begin pre-drilling work in early May. Corrigan said the company anticipates a five to six month project. Initial construction is expected to last about a month, rigging up a month or so more and drilling two to three months.
This will be the first Anadarko-operated well in Alaska, Corrigan said. Tyonek Construction has the contract for repair and improvement at the site, which includes repair of existing roads and about 200 feet of new road. Anadarko officials gave a presentation on the project in Tyonek in mid-April.
Anadarko and ARCO Alaska Inc. formed a strategic alliance in 1996 to explore the upper Cook Inlet. Anadarko manages the Anchorage-based exploration team consisting of geoscientists from both companies and will earn a 50 percent share of ARCO’s working interest in upper Cook Inlet leases. The two-year agreement covers 127,000 acres in upper Cook Inlet, excluding the Sunfish prospect and the Beluga River gas field.
