Donkel proposes new unit off ANWR coast
 Click here to go directly to this story within the full PDF version of this issue, with any maps, photos or other artwork that appears in some of the articles.
Email it to an associate.
Unit would take in ARCO Stinson No. 1 discovery well; Donkel plans to drill new exploration well or re-enter Stinson by August 2015
Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Donkel Oil & Gas LLC has applied to Alaska officials for approval of a new unit in state waters offshore the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
It would be called the Donkel Oil & Gas unit, or DOG unit for short.
Along with the unit application, Donkel also submitted an initial plan of exploration that includes the possibility of drilling a new exploratory well by the end of August 2015.
The new unit would encompass seven Beaufort Sea lease tracts, including one that takes in the Stinson No. 1 exploratory well that ARCO Alaska completed in 1990. Although the 16,156-foot well made a discovery, ARCO successor Phillips determined the reserves were insufficient to justify a standalone development and the acreage was dropped.
Donkel Oil & Gas managing partner Daniel K. Donkel and a partner, Samuel H. Cade, picked up the Stinson site in an October 2008 state lease sale.
Some leases expire soon Donkel and Cade are longtime players in Alaska oil and gas lease sales and land deals. Donkel Oil & Gas is based in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The seven leases Donkel is proposing for the DOG unit are ADL 389711, ADL 389712, ADL 389713, ADL 389714, ADL 389715, ADL 391374 and ADL 391375.
Altogether, the leases cover 21,354 acres.
Donkel owns a 25 percent working interest in all the leases, with Cade holding 75 percent, says the unit application paperwork the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas received on April 14.
The lease that includes the now plugged and abandoned Stinson well is ADL 391375, which has an expiration date of Aug. 31, 2016, according to documentation Donkel submitted with the unit application.
Five other leases in the proposed DOG unit will expire much sooner — on May 31 — in which case the acreage would return to the state.
The leases would stay alive, however, if the state approves the new unit.
Four-year plan of exploration Grouping leases together as a unit is meant to promote efficient exploration and production, minimizing facilities and protecting the rights of all parties of interest including the state.
Kevin Banks, the state’s oil and gas director and the key decision maker on unit applications, has told Petroleum News the state isn’t inclined to approve new units without strong work commitments.
The DOG unit application, signed by Dan Donkel, is bullish on the area’s prospectivity.
“Technology (primarily drilling technology, well log analysis, and seismic acquisition and processing) has evolved greatly since the Stinson #1,” Donkel writes. “Donkel will be utilizing advanced technology in its DOG Unit exploration. With new seismic data and improved well log analysis tools, Donkel believes it has a greater ability to identify and refine potential oil exploration prospects within the DOG Unit formations.”
Donkel’s company website notes the leasehold is “centered over the southeasterly plunging nose” of the highly productive Barrow Arch, and neighbors the large but still undeveloped Point Thomson oil and gas discovery.
Donkel is proposing a four-year initial plan of exploration.
The plan calls for performing a 3-D geophysical exploration program by May 30, 2013.
By Aug. 31, 2015, Donkel pledges to drill an exploration well or re-enter the Stinson No. 1 well.
| 
