Conoco developing DS-2S in SW Kuparuk after 2012 appraisal
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ConocoPhillips is developing a Kuparuk River unit oil field it proved up last year.
The company is applying for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build a drill site and access road in the southwest corner of the second largest oil field in North America.
The DS-2S project would develop a discovery ARCO made with the KRU 21-10-08 well in the late 1980s and ConocoPhillips appraised with the Shark Tooth No. 1 well last year.
The two-phase project would begin next winter with ConocoPhillips using nearly 300,000 cubic yards of gravel to construct a drill site in the southwest corner of the unit and an access road to the existing road system connecting the Central Processing Facility No. 2 to the Meltwater satellite. The company would install pipelines and power lines the following winter. The winter construction schedules would require numerous ice roads.
Existing drill sites considered In permitting documents, ConocoPhillips said it considered developing the field from many of the existing drill sites nearby, including 2K, 2L and 2M, but “determined that the reach of the current drilling technology would not allow for wells from these locations to extend far enough to adequately develop this area of the reservoir.” Also, ConocoPhillips said those existing sites currently have no slots available to accommodate the 2S wells.
Originally, ConocoPhillips wanted to place the drill site around 1,000 feet to the southeast, which it said would have been optimal for accessing the reservoir, but chose the proposed location to avoid a small stream crossing, according to the company.
ConocoPhillips declined to provide reserves figures for the field.
Near Tarn satellite ConocoPhillips used Doyon rig 141 to drill Shark Tooth No. 1 in early 2012, and while the company declined to provide details on the results, it subsequently issued a statement to investors saying the well had “discovered hydrocarbons in the Kuparuk sands, in accordance with expectations, and confirmed mapped volumes.” It also described the well as being “critical for any future development of this part of the Kuparuk reservoir.”
The proposed 2S drill site would be just east of the existing Tarn satellite based around drill sites 2L and 2N, in a section of the unit where there has been little prior drilling.
—Eric Lidji
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