BRPC stays the course, looks for Mustang first oil in early 2019
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Eric Lidji for Petroleum News
Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. is moving closer to its goal of bringing the Mustang field into production by the first half of next year, according to a new plan of development.
The local operating arm of a multiparty joint venture expects to finish installing a temporary production facility at the onshore North Slope field by the second quarter of 2019, allowing oil production to begin from as many as three existing production wells while the company continues its efforts to install permanent infrastructure at the site.
The Mustang field is the first development at the Southern Miluveach unit, which is located in the fairway between the Kuparuk River unit and the Colville River unit. The company discovered the field in 2012, but a series of technical, economic and logistical complications led to years of delays and required alternative approaches to development.
To avoid losing the unit and its leases to expiration, BRPC successfully applied for certification of an existing well and proposed a plan to start production in the short term by connecting a 6,000 barrel per day Early Production Facility to the Alpine Pipeline.
In a sixth plan of development submitted to state officials in early October, the company said it believes it can complete that temporary system by the second quarter of 2019.
The state Division of Oil and Gas has yet to approve the plan.
Initial production from 3 wells The temporary system would produce from three existing wells: North Tarn No. 1A, Mustang No. 1 and SMU M-02. Some work is required on two of those wells before they could begin producing. BRPC said it needs to drill either a lateral extension or a sidetrack at Mustang No. 1 and said it needs to perforate and stimulate SMU M-02 before start-up.
During the initial field commissioning, BRPC expects to pre-produce from the SMU M-02 well in order to better understand the Kuparuk A sands. The company described its intention to flare any excess gas during this period. After the flaring plan first appeared in a revised plan earlier this year, the state Division of Oil and Gas rejected the proposal.
The earlier plan had also included a proposal to truck oil for processing and sales until a pipeline system could be completed. The state also challenged that idea, saying that trucking costs would likely be ineligible for the transportation deductions built into royalty costs. The trucking proposal does not appear in the newest plan of development.
BRPC said it plans to drill as many as four new wells at the Southern Miluveach unit in the second half of 2019, as part of its initial development campaign for the Mustang field.
Longer-term plans for Mustang include installation of a 15,000-bpd central processing facility, completion of drill site facilities, construction of two pipelines and implementation of a 21-well development program with 10 producers and 11 injectors.
Brooks Range Petroleum operates the Southern Miluveach unit on behalf of working interest owners CaraCol Petroleum LLC, TP North Slope Development LLC, Nabors Drilling Technologies USA Inc., AVCG, LLC, Mustang Road LLC and MOC1 LLC.
- ERIC LIDJI
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