BP expanding PBU, contracting Northstar

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

BP Exploration (Alaska), the Prudhoe Bay unit operator, has applied to expand the Prudhoe Bay unit and contract the Northstar unit, which BP also operates.

BP told the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas in a March application that inclusion of the expansion area within the Prudhoe Bay unit would enable timely appraisal and development of the Point McIntyre reservoir by facilitating sharing of existing Prudhoe Bay unit facilities.

The tracts in the enlargement unit have been “reasonably determined to have the potential to contain producible hydrocarbons in the Ivishak, Sag River or Kuparuk” reservoirs, portions of which are in the Prudhoe Bay unit, the company said.

The proposed expansion areas are on the northern boundary of the unit, between Northstar and Prudhoe Bay on the west and north of the Duck Island unit (Endicott) to the east.

BP has been working Prudhoe Bay “for a long time and we’ve learned more about this area up along the margin and are looking for opportunity to assess that potential and develop those resources,” BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Steve Rinehart told Petroleum News April 21.

He said BP is “encouraged by steadily increasing knowledge of the oil field,” which includes some remapping of the subsurface and some reprocessing of earlier information.

“We saw some potential and so we want to expand the unit so we can assess that potential,” Rinehart said.

BP said in its application that the enlargement area includes some 9,818 acres: 1,320 acres are portions of leases presently within the Prudhoe Bay unit and held by production; some 2,579 acres are currently committed to the Northstar unit; and 5,919 acres not currently held by either the Northstar unit or the Prudhoe Bay unit.

Addition of the proposed areas to the Prudhoe Bay unit would expand it to some 257,295 acres.

The expansion is in three areas all on the north-central to northeastern borders of the unit.

The area requested for contraction out of the Northstar unit is on the southeastern border of that unit, and is outside of the existing Northstar participating area — the area from which Northstar production comes.

The proposal is out for public comment, which closes May 18.

Rinehart said BP has done some recent drilling in the small central expansion area and has that identified.

The company plans to drill at least one well into each of the other expansion areas to get a clear idea of what’s there, he said.