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Pioneer preps for Cosmopolitan waterflood Although independent hasn’t yet sanctioned oil field development in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, it wants to lay the regulatory groundwork Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Pioneer Natural Resources hasn’t said yet exactly what it aims to do with its offshore Cosmopolitan unit in Alaska’s lower Cook Inlet, but the company is sending some strong clues we just might see a new oil development.
On March 26 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers put out a public notice that Pioneer had applied for a permit to install a system for withdrawing seawater from the inlet.
“The applicant’s stated purpose is to provide a water source for subsurface injection to maintain oil reservoir pressure and enhance recovery,” the Corps notice says.
The drill site for Cosmopolitan sits atop the east bank of Cook Inlet, about six miles north of the Anchor Point community.
Pioneer proposes to install a water intake structure 2,300 feet offshore, the Corps notice says. The intake would have a screen to prevent entrainment and entrapment of fish.
A 3,400-foot, 12-inch water line would be directionally drilled under the inlet to connect to the intake, which would have a daily water draw capacity of 420,000 gallons.
Pioneer plans to install the intake and water line between July 4 and Sept. 15, the Corps notice says.
Project not yet sanctioned Pennzoil drilled into the oil accumulation at Cosmopolitan in 1967, but the discovery didn’t pan out for development.
In 2001, ConocoPhillips formed the Cosmopolitan unit, which takes in state and federal leases, and the company drilled what’s known as the Hansen well plus a sidetrack from the onshore drill site.
Pioneer took over the unit in 2006 and the next year drilled a lateral appraisal well, the Hansen 1A-L1, with Rowan rig 68. The well tested at a rate of 400 to 500 barrels per day, the company has said.
A steep decline in oil prices prompted Pioneer to shelve the Cosmopolitan project for a time, but in recent months work resumed and Pioneer re-entered the Hansen 1A-L1.
The company is continuing to evaluate data, Pioneer’s Alaska spokesman, Tadd Owens, told Petroleum News on March 31.
The application filed with the Army Corps for the water intake is just a piece of the regulatory groundwork Pioneer would like to complete in advance in case Cosmopolitan gets the green light for development, Owens said.
“We haven’t actually sanctioned the project,” he said.
The water intake, Owens said, is for a standard waterflood program to maintain field pressure and boost oil recovery.
Up to 50 million barrels Pioneer has said Cosmopolitan could contain 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil.
A development most likely would involve using trucks to haul the crude about 60 miles north to the Tesoro refinery at Nikiski.
In November, the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas approved changes to Pioneer’s fourth plan of exploration for the Cosmopolitan unit. As part of that approval, Pioneer committed to work toward an additional appraisal well with drilling to start by the end of April 2012.
Pioneer is a large independent exploration and production company based in Irving, Texas, with operations in the Lower 48 states, Tunisia and South Africa.
It operates the small Oooguruk field in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope.
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