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Ninilchik unit tract operation, PA merged
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
A consolidation of the Susan Dionne participating area and the Paxton tract operation at the southern end of the Ninilchik unit has been approved by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas.
Participating areas within a unit are based on production. The state approved formation of the Ninilchik unit in 2001, some 25,800 acres overlying the Ninilchik anticline. The Ninilchik unit was expanded to include the former Falls Creek unit in 2003. There are three participating areas at Ninilchik: Falls Creek, Grassim Oskolkoff and Susan Dionne.
Marathon Oil Co. is the unit operator and majority working interest owner at the Ninilchik unit, which lies along the shoreline of the Kenai Peninsula from near Clam Gulch to just north of Ninilchik. The other working interest owner is Chevron.
The original Susan Dionne PA contained 1,761 acres, including state leases, one Cook Inlet Region Inc. lease and various fee oil and gas leases.
There are 2,123 acres in the combined participating area: 1,646 acres on state leases; 215 acres of CIRI acreage; 30 acres of University of Alaska acreage; and 231 acres of various fee lands.
Some 545 acres were contracted from the original Susan Dionne PA and 907 acres were added to the proposed Susan Dionne-Paxton PA.
The division said data submitted by Marathon justifies the consolidation of the two areas, which produce natural gas from intervals within the upper Tyonek formation.
Original PA approved in 2003 The original Susan Dionne PA was approved in 2003. Marathon requested an expansion of the PA in October 2004 based on the Susan Dionne 2 well, but the division took no action because mechanical problems in the wellbore precluded production from the well and made expansion of the PA unnecessary.
The 480-acre Paxton tract operation was approved in January 2005, allowing production from the Paxton 1 well prior to the formation of the Paxton PA. Marathon requested approval of a Paxton participating area in April 2005 and amended the request in November 2005. The division said it had not taken action on the amended Paxton PA application and Marathon withdrew the amended application when it applied to consolidate the Susan Dionne PA and the Paxton tract operation.
When the Susan Dionne PA was approved, it was believed to be isolated from the Paxton reservoir.
“More recent data suggest the Susan Dionne reservoir sands are continuous with the Paxton reservoir sands to the southwest,” the division said. A structural saddle separates the Susan Dionne PA from the Grassim Oskolkoff PA to the northeast.
Development from existing pads Further delineation and development of the Susan Dionne-Paxton PA will be from existing Ninilchik unit drill sites and infrastructure, specifically the Susan Dionne and Paxton pads.
In Marathon Oil’s fourth plan of development for the Ninilchik unit, approved by the division in October, the company proposed two additional wells for the combined PA in 2008. “In addition to the two wells, Marathon plans to install a new gas compressor for the Susan Dionne Pad during the summer of 2008.”
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