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From Interior about ANWR 1002 oil potential before bidding on leases
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
Although recent news reports suggest a partial 3-D seismic survey might still be shot this winter in the ANWR 1002 area, the odds of that happening are slim. That said, there is other valuable geologic information coming from Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey that will help bidders in the upcoming ANWR 1002 lease sale to better understand the oil potential of the region.
The effort is spearheaded by David Houseknecht, a long-time USGS expert on northern Alaska petroleum geology.
The agency has completed a grounds-up reprocessing of 1,451 line miles of vintage 2-D seismic data collected from the ANWR 1002 area in 1984 and 1985. The purpose was to tease out more detail than was apparent in the initial data.
The 2-D survey was shot by WesternGeco and funded by a consortium of companies led by Exxon. Some of those companies have since disappeared in mergers; the 11 that are left include Anadarko, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Hess, Marathon, Murphy, Oxy, Shell and Total.
First, the good news for the consortium that funded the 2-D seismic: “We are investigating whether we are permitted to make available that reprocessed data to the oil companies that own the original data and, if so, under what conditions might that data be made available,” Houseknecht told Petroleum News Feb. 11.
Bad news for other bidders: “We know for certain that we are not permitted to convey any of the ANWR seismic data to companies other than those 11 under any conditions,” he said.
That said, there is other key information that can be released to the public.
Other information coming “Our seismic interpretations - both in the ANWR 1002 area and elsewhere - are focused on reducing critical geological uncertainties. We are not permitted to show or publish images of the reprocessed ANWR data, so our public presentations use analogs from offshore (ANWR 1002) and state lands west of the Canning River. In both areas, we are permitted to show images of seismic data that we have licensed from certain seismic companies,” Houseknecht said.
Field work results USGS has conducted field work in and near the ANWR 1002 area during the past two summers, with a particular focus on oil-prone source rocks, geochemistry of oils from oil-saturated outcrops and nearby wells (including the Stinson and Kuvlum discovery wells), distribution and quality of potential reservoir rocks, and structural evolution of the area.
“Some results of that work have been presented at recent conferences and additional presentations will be made at upcoming conferences,” Houseknecht said.
The presentations will include new data as it is available that “documents the absolute age and richness of source rocks and show that the richest source rocks occur in very specific parts of the overall source rock intervals,” he said.
“Our work also shows that most of the oils were derived from two main source rocks and that smaller proportions of some oils likely were contributed by a third source rock,” he said.
When 3-D seismic, lease sale? Partners SAExploration, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Kaktovik Inupiat Corp. are behind the 3-D seismic that was expected to be shot this winter in the 1002 area. The program, referred to as the Marsh Creek 3-D survey, would have encompassed the entire 1002 area, some 2,600 square miles.
SAE, the operator of the survey, anticipated the program would take two winter seasons to complete. Among other things, the federal shutdown stopped the survey from proceeding as planned.
According to Joe Balash, assistant secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management, SAE is hoping to mobilize to the village of Kaktovik yet this winter.
“At this point I don’t expect that’s going to happen this winter but they are still exploring the option,” Balash told Petroleum News Feb. 12. “They’d like to salvage even a little bit of this season,” he said, which will make it easier to get back underway in December.
Balash said SAE can’t begin work until it gets a Marine Mammal Protection Act permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; getting the authorization involves several steps, including a 30-day public comment period that has not yet begun and can be extended.
Fish and Wildlife manages ANWR as a whole and maintains a conservation plan for the refuge.
As far as plans to conduct an ANWR 1002 lease sale this year, it’s still in the works, Balash said, with fall as “fair estimate.”
When, where new USGS info USGS has already started releasing its new 1002 area information, starting with the Arctic Technology Conference last October in Houston.
Houseknecht has been using the title “Current and future exploration frontiers in Arctic Alaska,” covering his perspective of the entire region, divided into six areas, one of which is the ANWR 1002 area and the adjacent offshore.
He is next speaking at the Arctic Oil and Gas Symposium in Calgary, using the same title and format, but adding new information as it becomes available.
“Two of us are presenting at the AAPG Annual meeting in San Antonio in May,” Houseknecht said, noting the titles: “Dave Houseknecht: Geological and petroleum systems framework of the ANWR coastal plain (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 1002 Area) - this is a talk.”
The other, a poster, will come from Kate Whidden and others, he said. It is titled, “Stratigraphy and facies of the Hue Shale in northern Alaska: Evidence for a viable continuous resource play in an emerging basin.”
Although the poster title does not specify the ANWR 1002 area, it will include it and state lands.
How soon will all the new information be released?
“We are working to publish all our observations as quickly as possible, but that process typically takes a year or more after the work is completed,” Houseknecht said.
He had no comment on whether or not Interior was providing USGS with additional funds to get the information out before the upcoming 1002 lease sale.
Editor’s note: Only one well has ever been drilled in the ANWR 1002 area. This was the onshore KIC well, drilled in 1985 and 1986 by operator Chevron (50 percent) and partner BP (50 percent) from surface land owned by Kaktovik Inupiat Corp., the Native village corporation for Kaktovik, and into the subsurface oil and gas mineral rights owned by Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Native regional corporation for northern Alaska. Chevron and BP still hold under lease the 92,000 acres that surround the KIC exploration well. The findings from that well remain confidential.
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