Based on the success of recent drilling, Pioneer Natural Resources is increasing the resource estimate of the Oooguruk unit by around 40 percent, saying the North Slope unit could hold 150 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, officials said today.
The increase comes after six months of production and a recent 3-D seismic shoot that suggested “opportunities that are reachable from the existing island or from our nearby shore acreage,” according to President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Dove.
Pioneer originally estimated the potential of Oooguruk to be between 70 million and 90 million boe. Now, the company is upping that to between 120 million to 150 million boe.
“This gives us a lot of anticipation for the future on Alaska,” Dove said, adding that Pioneer has only booked 10 million barrels of oil from its Alaska operations to date.
Oooguruk is outperforming expectations, Dove said. A recent well flowed at an initial gross production rate of 7,000 barrels per day. Pioneer originally expected Oooguruk would produce 5,000 barrels of oil per day on average this year, with production ramping up to 10,000 bpd in 2010, and peaking at 14,000 bpd in 2011 as drilling increased.
“It could potentially even increase our rate of growth of production,” Dove said.
Oooguruk sits northwest of Oliktok Point in the shallow waters of Harrison Bay. The company is developing the unit from a gravel island built about six miles from shore.
See full story in the Feb. 8 issue of Petroleum News, which will be online at noon Friday, Feb. 6, at www.petroleumnews.com.
