Oil Search changes plan for Pikka B well

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

According to a revised plan of operations approved by Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, Oil Search has changed its plan for the drilling of the Pikka B well, in its North Slope Pikka unit this winter. The Pikka B well is one of two exploration wells that Oil Search plans to drill this winter. The other well is the Pikka C well. Oil Search plans to drill sidetracks to each well, in addition to drilling the main well bore. The Pikka B location is on the east side of the Colville River, towards the southern end of the Pikka Unit. Pikka C will be drilled in a more central location in the unit.

The revised plan of operations places the Pikka B wellhead 375 feet farther from the river than previously anticipated. Revisions to the plan also include some updated environmental mitigation measures. Oil Search has also made some changes to land status specifications in the plan, to reflect some changes in lease ownership.

A 13-mile ice road will connect the planned Pikka B ice drilling pad to an all-season gravel road that leads to Brooks Range Petroleum’s Mustang field gravel pad. The well and sidetrack will be drilled to vertical depths of some 7,000 feet and will be plugged and abandoned following completion and flow testing, Oil Search’s revised plan says. The well surface location is about 5.5 miles northeast of the village of Nuiqsut.

Oil Search is in the process of planning a major oil field development in the Pikka unit, mainly developing a large oil resource in the Nanushuk formation. The company has indicated that the drilling planned for this winter is intended to further appraise the subsurface reservoir, prior to the start of front-end engineering and design for the development project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently published the final environmental impact statement for the Pikka development but the Corps has yet to issue a record of decision authorizing a development option.

- ALAN BAILEY