ASRC permitting Placer infrastructure

ASRC Exploration LLC is requesting a land use permit for an upcoming one-well exploration program at the Placer unit, just south of the Colville River Delta.

The permit would cover one exploration well and an associated ice road and pad infrastructure, as well as off-road thermistors installed before ice construction.

The company plans to use the Kuukpik No. 5 drilling rig this coming winter to drill the Placer No. 3 well in the region between the Kuparuk River and Colville River units.

The well would delineate a reservoir previously encountered in 2004 by a group of companies led by ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. with the Placer No. 1 and No. 2 wells.

ASRC Exploration is proposing to build an ice road from an existing access road at the Mustang Pad to the south to the proposed 500-foot by 500-foot pad for Placer No. 3.

If the well is successful, the company plans to conduct a 30-day flow test, separate fluids on site, truck oil and water to existing North Slope facilities and flare natural gas.

The proposed exploration well was one of the requirements of an expansion of the Placer unit approved by state officials toward the end of 2014. ASRC Exploration had requested the expansion years earlier, although the matter was delayed by denials and appeals.

The justification ASRC Exploration gave for the expansion was the need to drill a third Placer well far enough from the previous two wells to make the results meaningful and not duplicative. A map included with the recent permitting papers shows the proposed Placer No. 3 well to be a little more than a mile to the west of Placer No. 1 and No. 2.

—ERIC LIDJI