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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
November 2009

Vol. 14, No. 46 Week of November 15, 2009

The Explorers 2009: Pioneer Natural Resources

Pioneer Natural Resources earned its name in 2008 when it brought the Oooguruk unit into production, becoming the first independent producer on the North Slope. The Texas-based company arrived in Alaska in 2000, promising a quicker schedule for bringing oil exploration prospects into sustained production. The company bought a majority stake in the Northwest Kuparuk prospect — the offshore leases that eventually became Oooguruk — and quickly racked up other leases across the North Slope and the Cook Inlet, but after unpromising drilling efforts, the company decided to shift its focus away from exploration in favor of production.

After dropping significant acreage over the years, Pioneer currently leases some 55,000 state acres divided between the North Slope and Cook Inlet. The company brought Oooguruk online in June 2008 and earlier this year increased the resource estimate of the unit by 40 percent after initial drilling yielded better than expected results. The company is now planning a campaign of lateral wells to help tap that oil.

The company is also looking at Cosmopolitan, a Cook Inlet oil prospect with significant gas potential. A sidetrack in late 2007 tested at 400 to 500 barrels per day of oil, but the company postponed plans to drill again this winter when oil prices dropped at the end of 2008. Those drilling plans remain on hold until commodity prices stabilize.

Current exploration focus

Northern Alaska — central North Slope: exploration currently on hold. Doing development drilling in the Oooguruk field.

Cook Inlet: evaluating the Cosmopolitan oil prospect. Drilling at the prospect on hold because of depressed oil prices.






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