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Pioneer Natural Resources finds oil at North Slope Cronus prospect
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. has announced the discovery of oil in its Cronus No. 1 well on Alaska’s North Slope, southwest of the Kuparuk River unit. The primary target for the well was a Cretaceous-age Torok sand sequence, similar to the reservoir in the nearby Meltwater field.
“A thick, oil-bearing sand section in the Torok and a thin, oil-bearing sand in the Jurassic-aged Kuparuk C were penetrated by the well,” the company said. “Wireline and core data are currently being analyzed and integrated with 3D seismic to determine if appraisal activities are warranted during the 2006-2007 winter drilling season.”
ConocoPhillips, the previous operator of the Cronus unit, said in a unit application to the State of Alaska in July 2005 that the Cronus well would be drilled to depths sufficient to penetrate the Albian Torok sand interval correlative to that found in the Nanuk No. 1 well between 6,140 feet to 6,300 feet measured depth, or 6,100 feet to 6,300 feet subsea true vertical depth, whichever is less.
Pioneer announced in March that its Hailstorm No. 1 well, also in the central part of the North Slope, had proved a bust.
Pioneer, AVCG working interest owners Pioneer owns a 90 percent interest in the Cronus unit, with Alaska Venture Capital Group owning the remaining 10 percent working interest. Pioneer also owns a 32 percent working interest in the Antigua No. 1 well, south of the Kuparuk River unit, where ConocoPhillips has just finished drilling.
Hailstorm, Cronus and Antigua were all drilled using the new lightweight Arctic Fox No. 1 drilling rig that Pioneer has brought to the North Slope. Pioneer says that the use of the Arctic Fox rig in a three-well program demonstrates “the efficiency of having a more mobile, built-for-purpose rig to maximize activity during the short winter-only drilling season on the North Slope.”
—Alan Bailey
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