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State OKs Kuparuk PA expansions Modified definitions of productive areas of unit will accommodate new developments in progress around major North Slope oil field ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has approved the expansion of two participating areas in the Kuparuk River unit, operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska on the central North Slope. The expansions accommodate recent developments in the unit, as ConocoPhillips continues to find ways of teasing more oil out of the huge but aging Kuparuk River oil field. A participating area defines a region within a unit from which hydrocarbons can be commercially produced.
Kuparuk PA One of the expansions applies to the Kuparuk participating area, the main participating area in the unit, originally formed in 1981 and defining the primary producing region of the Kuparuk field. Within this participating area oil is produced from two early-Cretaceous sand units straddling a geologic discontinuity called the lower Cretaceous unconformity.
Through the acquisition of 3-D seismic data and advances in drilling technologies, ConocoPhillips has been able to develop thinner net pay intervals along the margins of the field reservoir, the division says in its approval notice for the participating area expansion.
This development work which has resulted in the participating area expansion request includes the drilling of the Shark Tooth well in 2012, about four miles southwest of the 2K drill site, the drilling and completion of three additional wells, and an expansion project that can accommodate up to 24 wells. ConocoPhillips requested and has been granted a participating area expansion of about 4,850 acres in portions of five state leases to accommodate this development, the division says.
Drill site 2S In October ConocoPhillips announced the start of oil production from drill site 2S. The participating area expansion approval says that production of about 8,000 barrels of oil per day is anticipated from the site.
On the south side of the unit, horizontal drilling has demonstrated new oil production capabilities from both of the Kuparuk reservoir sands - the division has now approved an about 4,800-acre expansion in four leases to accommodate additional planned drilling.
And on the west side of the Kuparuk River unit ConocoPhillips drilled and completed the 2M-36 well in early 2015 and, having demonstrated production from this well, plans two additional wells in the same area. To accommodate this development the participating area is being expanded by 1,690 acres in one lease, with an expansion of 640 acres in two other leases for additional wells planned to start in 2016.
West Sak The second expansion approval applies to the West Sak participating area, an area of the upper Cretaceous West Sak sands which currently produce viscous oil, both in the Kuparuk River unit and the adjacent Milne Point, Prudhoe Bay and Nikaitchuq units. Expansion of the viscous oil development is focused around drill sites 1C, 1D and 1H, the division says. The expansion involves the addition of 5,805 acres to the participating area in a total of eight state leases.
ConocoPhillips and the other Kuparuk working interest owners have already approved a development project in the area of the 1H drill site, including a 9.3-acre expansion of the dill site and the installation of surface facilities to support four horizontal multilateral production wells and 15 vertical injection wells, the division’s approval document says. Drilling is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2016, with production coming on line in the first quarter of 2017. Peak production is expected to reach about 8,000 barrels per day.
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