First winter exploration well permitted

Petroleum News

Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. has permitted the first North Slope exploration well of the winter season, the Tuvaaq State No. 1, in section 24, township 14 north, range 8 east, Umiat Meridian. The proposed bottomhole is in section 15, T14N-R8E, UM.

The company has said it will drill as many as six exploration wells in the shallow waters off Alaska’s North Slope this winter to evaluate its Nikaitchuq discovery, including one well to evaluate the Tuvaaq prospect, which lies between Nikaitchuq and Oooguruk. The three exploration units are northwest of the Milne Point unit in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea.

Oooguruk, Tuvaaq and Nikaitchuq are prospects assembled by Armstrong Alaska, a Denver-based independent, which brought both Kerr-McGee and Pioneer Natural Resources to Alaska as operators on the prospects. Both Pioneer and Kerr-McGee have announced discoveries, Pioneer at Oooguruk and Kerr-McGee at Nikaitchuq.