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Remediation money for Drew Point well Dry hole drilled by federal government in 1978 on Beaufort Sea coast; bottom plug set, but diesel left in top 2,000 feet of hole Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska office of the Bureau of Land Management will receive $37.4 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for 30 projects in the state, and will use a portion of those funds to plug an abandoned well drilled by the federal government on the shore of the Beaufort Sea.
Overall, the Department of the Interior will invest more than $3 billion through President Obama’s economic recovery plan, the agency said, with $305 million dedicated to more than 650 BLM projects, most in the western states and Alaska.
Alaska’s share of the recovery funds will go toward habitat restoration; remediation of old oil well and mining sites; maintenance and upgrade of roads and recreation trails and facilities; and capital improvement projects including renewable energy upgrades, the agency said May 4.
BLM Alaska State Director Tom Lonnie said in a statement that much of the Alaska funding “will be spent in rural communities, which will help our state’s economy while we improve facilities, including recreation facilities, used by the public. These Recovery Act funds will also help us launch much-needed habitat restoration projects and remediate old well sites and mining sites.”
Lonnie said BLM would start on the projects as soon as possible, with some project work beginning this summer after the competitive bid, grant or agreement processes are complete.
He said more specific project information would be added to the www.recovery.gov Web site as it becomes available.
Drew Point on coast The Drew Point well on Alaska’s North Slope is on the list because of rapid shoreline erosion on the Beaufort Sea coast.
“If not remediated, this unplugged well threatens to contaminate subsistence resources, such as the bowhead whale, seal, walrus and fish, and threatened and endangered species, such as the polar bear,” BLM said on the Department of the Interior recovery investments Web page.
BLM said the Drew Point well is one of 136 exploratory wells drilled by the federal government from 1944 to 1982, the so-called “legacy wells,” many of which were left unplugged or partially plugged. BLM now has responsibility for these wells and the agency said it has determined that 37 pose risks to the environment; 13 of the legacy wells have been plugged since 2002.
Drew Point was drilled for the government by Husky Oil in 1978.
A dry hole The well, a vertical hole with a measured depth of 7,948 feet, is on the shore of Smith Bay, west of Camp Lonely and some 72 miles east-southeast of Barrow.
A report done by Husky Oil for the U.S. Geological Survey in 1983 said the objectives of the well were the Ivishak formation in the Sadlerochit group and possibly the Lisburne group.
Drilling found several low permeability reservoirs with hydrocarbon shows. Some gas was encountered in Torok sandstones and oil shows were found in the Sag River sandstone, upper and lower Shublik and Ivishak sandstones.
After evaluation of available data and test results “the hole was determined to be dry,” the report said.
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and BLM determined last year that while the Drew Point well had been listed as plugged and abandoned, along with 19 other BLM-managed wells, it was only plugged down-hole while the top portion of the well, some 2,000 feet, was left filled with diesel to allow USGS to monitor permafrost temperatures.
The commission now shows the status of such wells as “OBSW” for observation well. Once BLM has plugged and abandoned the wells, they will be re-designated as “P&A.”
Of the so-called observation wells, East Teshekpuk 1 and Atigaru Point 1 have been plugged and abandoned to the surface, the work BLM is proposing for the Drew Point well.
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