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Oooguruk dual lateral test successful Nuiqsut well tests at 1,900 bpd, brought into regular production; more wells planned for 4Q and 1Q; still no news at Cosmo Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
Oil production at the Oooguruk unit off the coast of Alaska’s North Slope continues to rise, although external maintenance and outages kept quarterly production levels even for operator Pioneer Natural Resources, the Texas company reported in third-quarter filings.
The increase came from a successful test well brought into regular production.
Pioneer drilled one well during the quarter to “test the production capability of a dual lateral.” The well tested at a rate of 1,900 barrels oil per day and is producing for sales.
Oooguruk, in the state waters of Harrison Bay northwest of the Kuparuk River unit, contains three production horizons: the Nuiqsut, the Kuparuk and the Moraine.
Pioneer drilled the third-quarter dual lateral into the deeper and larger Nuiqsut horizon. In the fourth quarter, the company plans to drill two more dual lateral wells into the Nuiqsut and one well into the Kuparuk, the middle horizon. In the first quarter of 2011, Pioneer plans to further test the Moraine, the shallowest and newest of the three horizons.
On average, Pioneer produced 7,000 barrels per day net from Oooguruk in the third quarter of the year, level from the second quarter. Pioneer said “unplanned maintenance and outages on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline offset production increases from new wells.”
The company reported producing 6,000 bpd net in the third quarter of 2009.
Pioneer operates the Oooguruk unit and holds a 70 percent working interest in the field, while the Italian major Eni Petroleum holds the remaining 30 percent interest.
Companywide, Pioneer produced 114,600 barrels oil equivalent per day in the quarter.
No Cosmopolitan news yet Pioneer continued to reap benefits from State of Alaska exploration credits, reporting an $8 million after tax gain from the Petroleum Production Tax credit given for certain expenses.
But that’s down from the $14 million that Pioneer reported earning in the second quarter.
In the third-quarter filings, Pioneer did not provide an update on Cosmopolitan, an oil prospect off the coast of the southern Kenai Peninsula. In second-quarter filings, the company said it was planning an extended flow test of the Hansen 1A-L1 sidetrack well for the second half of the year and that it may also drill another appraisal well in 2011.
The southern Kenai is a burgeoning region for exploration. Although Pioneer appears mostly interested in oil at Cosmopolitan, the pending startup of the nearby North Fork field would provide Pioneer the infrastructure to produce and sell natural gas as well.
Pioneer has yet to release its 2011 capital budget.
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