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THE EXPLORERS 2004: Pioneer to explore for gas in Alaska
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
A May 2004 state lease sale for the Cook Inlet basin drew a new player to Alaska, Pioneer Oil Co. of Lawrenceville, Ill., an independent that operates more than 800 wells in the United States
The family-run firm submitted high bids totaling $793,152 on 27 tracts in primarily two onshore lease blocks — one west of Knik Arm, across from Anchorage, from north of Point MacKenzie to southwest of Wasilla, and the other on the west side of Cook Inlet, inland from Trading Bay and west of Aurora’s Nikolai Creek gas field. Looking for both conventional gas and nonconventional gas in coal seams (coalbed methane), Pioneer plans to drill two exploratory wells in 2005 – one in the Point MacKenzie area and one at Trading Bay.
Pioneer founder and President Don Jones, a fourth-generation oilman who first visited Alaska in September 2004, said his company was intrigued with the state’s thick coal seams and the presence of gas bearing sands, previously overlooked by major companies.
“We’ve been looking in the continental U.S. for the biggest reserves of natural gas … and it became apparent Alaska was an oasis of natural gas in several different formations,” he told Petroleum News after the May 2004 sale.
Jones became interested in Alaska after a presentation from John Mackey, a consulting geologist his company frequently uses to find new prospective gas properties.
“There are tremendous gas reserves up there; not only where we took leases but farther north,” Jones said.
Pioneer has “worked with coals in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky where you might have 35-40 feet of combined thickness. … At 3,000 feet in Alaska you have 400 feet combined footage of coal. … The farther north you go, the thicker they get. … And there is definitely a market for the gas up there,” Jones said.
“I feel Alaska has been overlooked by the producers here in the continental U.S. … I feel like we’re just the first of many to come.”
No heavily populated areas When asked about Evergreen Resources, which was beset with political problems as a result of a deluge of complaints from private landowners in Southcentral Alaska, Jones responded, “I thought it was most unfortunate for Alaska that Evergreen would pick an area that was heavily populated, especially when it appeared they could do the same thing in less populated areas. We took our leases away from populated areas.”
Jones said he intends to bring his technology, integrity and sensitivity to the environment to Alaska.
“We hope to be welcomed by the locals there. We’ll do everything aboveboard, like we do down here. We want to be a part of the growth, in the development of Alaska’s huge oil and gas reserves. Our goal is to employ and train Alaskan residents; after all the gas is theirs.”
Jones said his goal with the two 2005 wells is to test the coals for gas content and recoverability.
“It’s a geologic structure test. … We’ll be looking at both the sands and the coals to confirm the structures we see in the seismic we purchased. The first well will be in the Point MacKenzie area; the second well will probably be at Trading Bay,” he told Petroleum News in October 2004.
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