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State approves Doyon Nenana seismic survey Native corporation plans to infill some previous reconnaissance surveying as part of a search for oil and gas in the basin ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has issued a permit allowing Doyon Ltd. to conduct a seismic survey on state land in the northern part of the Nenana basin in the Alaska Interior. The 2-D survey, which will extend about 172 line miles across a broad area of the basin, to the northwest of the city of Nenana, is planned for the 2016 winter season. The permit covers the period Jan. 1 to April 30.
In addition to state land, the survey area includes Native land and Mental Health Trust land. Doyon holds both state and Mental Health Trust oil and gas leases within the area, the DOG decision document says.
Access to the project area will mainly be by helicopter and fixed wing aircraft, with equipment and crews mobilized from Nenana Airport and field staging areas on private land or one of the local roads, the decision document says. Charges used as seismic sound sources will be placed at 330-foot intervals in holes drilled by a heli-portable drilling rig. Wireless, nodal data receivers placed 55 feet apart will be used for recording the seismic signals - the cutting of seismic lines through the surface vegetation will not be required.
Exploration program Doyon has been exploring for oil and gas in the Nenana basin for several year and conducted 2-D seismic surveys across wide areas of the basin in 2005 and 2012. The corporation drilled the Nunivak No. 1 exploration well in the central part of the basin in 2009 and the Nunivak No. 2 well, also in that central area, in 2013. While not encountering viable oil or gas pools, the wells provided tantalizing evidence for an active petroleum system, with indications that the basin may contain oil as well as gas.
In the winter of 2014-15 Doyon conducted a 3-D seismic survey in the central part of the basin to add detail to the results of previous 2-D surveys. And the corporation has announced a plan to drill a third well, the Toghotthele No. 1, during the summer of 2016 at a location about two miles north of the previous wells.
James Mery, Doyon vice president for lands and natural resources, has previously told Petroleum News that the new 2-D seismic survey will fill in gaps in the previous reconnaissance surveys in the area. The corporation anticipates following up with a 3-D survey in a subsequent season, to upgrade promising leads into prospects, Mery said.
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