State approves Pikka unit plan

The state has approved a year of studies at the Pikka unit.

In early November 2015, the Division of Oil and Gas approved a plan of exploration for the North Slope unit calling for seismic licensing and analyzing recent drilling results.

When former operator Repsol E&P USA Inc. handed over control of the unit to its minority partner Armstrong Oil & Gas Inc. in mid-October 2015, immediate exploration and development plans for the unit became cloudy. The companies announced the decision just as Repsol was preparing to submit an updated plan of exploration.

With the transfer of the unit came the possibility of Armstrong revising the plan of exploration. Instead, Armstrong appears to be using the existing plan of exploration.

The new plan calls for licensing and reprocessing the existing North Island 3-D seismic survey, conducting rock physics studies and performing stratigraphic analysis and special core analysis on the three exploration wells that Repsol drilled at the unit in early 2015.

- ERIC LIDJI