Royale plans 2 wells this winter season

First seismic program completed last winter in JV with Rampart Energy; acreage east of Colville River target for 2014-16 drilling

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Royale Energy has begun permitting for a winter exploration drilling program on state oil and gas leases the company holds south the Colville River south of Nuiqsut.

Royale began acquiring North Slope oil and gas leases in 2011 and this will be the first exploration drilling the company has done in Alaska.

In an application filed with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for an oil discharge prevention and contingency plan the company said it “plans to conduct a regional, multi-year onshore oil and gas exploration drilling program during the winter months on the North Slope.”

The company said the general scope of the program is two wells in the first season with the potential for additional wells in subsequent years.

In addition to the Aki prospect south of the Colville River, where Royale and Repsol both hold a number of leases, Royale is also looking to drill on the Central prospect on a block of leases it holds south of Kuparuk and at the southern edge of a large block of leases held by Great Bear Petroleum.

Royale identified eight potential Aki wells on its acreage south of the Colville and six potential Central wells south of Kuparuk and said it “proposes to drill up to four exploratory well locations during the two winter seasons between 2014-2015; with potential additional locations drilled within the lease blocks in future years.”

The Aki 1, 3, 7 and 8 wells are targeted for the first two winter seasons.

The Aki wells are in townships 7 and 8 north, range 4 east, Umiat Meridian. The Central wells are in township 6 north, range 11 east, UM.

Royale said the Ari and Central prospects have “both conventional and unconventional formations.” It listed the conventional formations as Upper Jurassic, Kuparuk and Brookian and the unconventional as Shublik, Lower Kingak and shale.

Drilling will be done with Kuukpik Rig No. 5, the company said, from a 400-foot by 400-foot temporary ice pad.

Access to Aki drill sites will be by snow/ice road from Drill Site 2P in the Kuparuk River unit, and to the Central drill sites by snow/ice road from Franklin Bluffs.

Royale acquired acreage in Alaska in 2011 when it spent some $2.7 million to acquire nearly 100,000 acres of North Slope leases in there blocks - the Franklin Bluffs region, south of Prudhoe Bay and south of Nuiqsut along the Colville River.

While its winter drilling plans mention both conventional and unconventional formations, the company said when it came to Alaska that it was interested in oil shale opportunities in the state.

In early 2013 Royale formed a joint venture partnership with Australian-based Rampart Energy.

Rampart earned working interest in Royale’s acreage by funding exploration. Alaska Division of Oil and Gas records show acreage split some 85,000 acres to Royale and some 12,000 acres to Rampart.

Rampart acquired 3-D seismic over the western and central blocks last winter - those areas where Royale is now proposing to drill.

Royale said a preliminary interpretation of the seismic “identified a large conventional target, covering an area of up to 20,000 acres,” and Rampart suggested some source rock potential, too.

—A copyrighted oil and gas lease map from Mapmakers Alaska was a research tool used in preparing this story.