Glacier applies for Badami pad permit

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

Glacier Oil and Gas has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to construct an additional gravel pad for the Badami field on the North Slope, to accommodate the drilling of up to 10 new wells. The application says that the pad construction would involve excavating a 9.2-acre gravel pit, constructing an 800-foot access road and constructing a 2.5-mile pipeline connecting the new pad to the existing field facilities. The pad itself would be square, with 660-foot sides, and would be located within the Badami unit, due east of the existing Badami pad.

However, the filing of the application does not represent any firm commitment over when or whether to build the pad. Phil Elliott, president of Glacier, has indicated to Petroleum News that his company is still in the process of formulating future plans for the Badami field. A permit of this type would typically run for around five years, Elliott commented in a Feb. 6 email.

In the winter of 2017-18 Glacier subsidiary Savant Alaska successfully drilled the B1-07 exploration well, locating an oil pool in the Killian sands in the Starfish prospect to the southwest of the Badami oil field development area. That well has subsequently gone on line, significantly boosting Badami oil production. Glacier’s latest Badami plan of development, filed in April 2018, indicates the potential for further drilling at Badami, with an additional drilling pad likely to be needed to fully explore and delineate the Badami unit.

- ALAN BAILEY