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All systems go for Qannik field Alpine satellite operated by ConocoPhillips on Alaska’s North Slope goes into production with one well two months before planned; development drilling program continues at CD2 Alan Bailey Petroleum News
Qannik, the newest Alpine satellite oil field in the Colville River unit on the western North Slope of Alaska, has started production, Natalie Knox Lowman, spokeswoman for unit operator ConocoPhillips, told Petroleum News July 9.
“I can confirm that Qannik came on line July 1, two months ahead of schedule,” Lowman said.
Just one Qannik production well is flowing at this point, Lowman said. Initial production rates were unavailable for publication, but ConocoPhillips expects production to peak at 4,000 barrels per day in 2009, she said. Drilling of additional Qannik wells will continue to bring field production up to full speed, but there is no specific timeframe for which wells will be drilled when, Lowman said.
“The (Qannik) design, fabrication and construction involved about 200 people over the past two years and represents about $200 million in capital investment,” Lowman said.
ConocoPhillips owns a 78 percent working interest in the field, with Anadarko Petroleum owning the other 22 percent working interest.
Nine wells ConocoPhillips’ initial plan for the field envisages a total of nine horizontal wells, including an exploration well drilled in 2006. Six wells will be producers and three will be water injectors: Horizontal well lengths will range from 6,000 to 9,000 feet. Drilling is taking place from the CD2 drill site, which ConocoPhillips has expanded by 7.5 acres as part of the Qannik field development.
According to Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records, ConocoPhillips has permitted three Qannik wells since the beginning of 2008. An initial development oil well was permitted in May and a water injection well was permitted in June. An additional development oil well was permitted on July 1.
Production from Qannik will be processed through the central processing facilities for the Alpine field, with the Qannik oil comingling with that from other producing Colville River unit oil pools for export to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
Sandstone reservoir The Qannik oil pool overlies the Alpine, Nanuq and Fiord pools within the Colville River unit and occupies a 25-foot sandstone unit situated at 4,000 feet below sea level. Reservoir simulation has projected an ultimate recovery of 17 million barrels, with a range of 11 million to 25 million barrels. Qannik oil from a production test in the 2006 exploration well had an API gravity of 29.4 degrees, making the oil somewhat heavier than that from the Alpine pool.
ConocoPhillips plans to use water injection supplemented by expansion of the field gas cap to maintain pressure support in the Qannik reservoir during production. The company has discounted the possibility of using miscible injectant for enhanced oil recovery, because of the potential for the injectant to migrate through the open annuli of CD2 Alpine wells that pass through the reservoir.
AOGCC and DOG approval The Qannik startup came on the heels of two essential regulatory documents: the approval of Qannik pool rules by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (issued June 30) and approval of the Qannik participating area by Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas (issued July 1).
AOGCC agreed to a definition of the Qannik oil pool as the accumulation of hydrocarbons in the interval between the measured depths of 6,086 feet and 6,249 feet in the Colville River unit CD2-11 well. And according to the commission’s order the oil occurs in a stratigraphic trap in fine-grained Cretaceous sandstone on an ancient marine shelf, age-equivalent to the Nanushuk Group of the central North Slope. Shales and siltstones of the Torok formation above and below the Qannik sandstone confine the oil within the pool.
The Qannik sandstone extends at least 12 miles north to south and about six miles east to west, AOGCC said.
And as part of the approved pool rules AOGCC has relaxed the conventional well spacing rules, to maximize production from the planned horizontal well configuration.
In its approval document the division said that both oil and gas occur in the Qannik reservoir, but no oil-water contact has been observed.
The Qannik participating area amounts to 18,114 acres and includes all or portions of four state leases and 16 leases held jointly by the state and the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Native regional corporation for the North Slope, the division said. Approximately 5,000 acres of the Qannik reservoir would be developed from drill site CD2, the division said.
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