Aurora well a bust

Aurora Gas’s Endeavour No. 1 well at the southern end of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula has proved a duster. Drilling in partnership with Swift Energy, Aurora spud the well in early April. The 9,225-foot well did not find commercial quantities of hydrocarbons and will be permanently plugged and abandoned, the company said May 15.

“Aurora will analyze data from the Endeavour No. 1 to help determine whether or not additional exploration efforts will be expended in the area,” the company said.

The prime target at Endeavour was oil in the Hemlock and lower Tyonek formations, at depths between 8,000 and 9,000 feet, Aurora Vice President Andy Clifford told Petroleum News in August. He said the stratigraphy and structure of the prospect exactly mirror the nearby, offshore Cosmopolitan prospect, which is known to contain oil.

“There’s just one syncline between Cosmopolitan offshore and Endeavour onshore,” Clifford said.

Aurora had also hoped to find gas in higher horizons in the well.

Aurora is primarily a gas E&P company, with a strategy of developing low-risk gas plays onshore. However, it has been interested in the potential to explore for oil on some of its leases. In addition to drilling for oil at Endeavour, Aurora plans to drill deep for oil below its Aspen gas prospect, on the west side of Cook Inlet north of Granite Point.