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Pacific Energy looks to expand Corsair The California independent plans three-well exploration program to start as early as this summer at the Cook Inlet offshore unit Eric Lidji Petroleum News
In preparation for an upcoming exploration program, Pacific Energy Resources Ltd. is asking to more than double the size of the offshore Corsair Unit in the upper Cook Inlet, located about seven miles south of the village of Tyonek.
The move would expand the unit to both the north and the south by adding four adjacent state leases, all already 100 percent owned by Pacific Energy. Of the four leases, three are set to expire at the end of April and the other will expire at the end of the year. Including the leases in the unit would allow the company to hold onto the leases past their expirations dates.
The expansion would add 16,546 acres to the offshore unit, bringing the total acreage to 26,731.
Last year, California-based independent Pacific Energy acquired the Cook Inlet assets of Forest Oil, including the newly formed Corsair Unit. Pacific Energy Alaska Operating LLC, a local subsidiary, is the operator and sole working interest owner of Corsair.
The state Division of Oil and Gas is accepting comments on the request through April 29.
Three wells could hit oil or gas Pacific Energy plans to drill three exploration wells at the expanded Corsair Unit by the end of 2009, according to a five-year plan filed with the state.
The wells would investigate the Expanded Corsair Prospect, an anomaly picked-up from 2-D seismic surveys shot by Forest Oil Corp. in 1997.
If the wells are successful, Pacific Energy could find oil and/or gas at Corsair.
The expansion area would include part of the potential gas-bearing reservoirs in the Sterling-Beluga sands as well as part of the potential oil bearing reservoirs in the Tyonek-Hemlock identified by Pacific Energy and Escopeta.
The four-mile wide and 10-mile long Corsair feature sits along the same trend as the North Cook Inlet gas field five miles to the north.
Vladimir Katic, chairman and CEO of Pacific Energy, told Petroleum News in February that the decision to drill deeper wells targeting oil or shallower wells targeting gas largely depended on when the company secures a jack-up rig this year.
If the company gets the rig in late spring or early summer, it would likely provide enough time to drill a deeper gas well.
The state previously put the Corsair Unit into default because Pacific Energy failed to secure a rig, but later gave the company until April 2008 to prove it would be able to drill the exploration wells.
It remains unclear whether Pacific Energy has a rig commitment. Local company officials deferred to company headquarters in California, where officials did not return a call for comment in time for publication.
If the exploration program proceeds, the first well, PAC No. 1, would sit at the southwest corner of ADL 389196, about one mile south of the Arco A-1 SRS Tern well and just east of the Shell SRS No. 1 well, both of which have been plugged and abandoned.
Best case scenario: permitting by 2012
Under the revised unit plan, Pacific Energy has until the end of the year to prove its commitment to drill the three exploration wells or the state will terminate the unit on Jan. 1, 2009, and fine the company $25 per acre.
If Pacific Energy fails to drill the wells by the end of 2009, the state will terminate the unit on Jan. 1, 2010, and fine the company $35 per acre.
If the exploration program proves successful, Pacific Energy could begin permitting commercial production at Corsair as early as the end of 2012.
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