NordAq plans two wells at Tiger Eye on west side of Cook Inlet
NordAq Energy Inc., the small independent that has been quietly pursuing a program of oil and gas exploration in Alaska’s Cook Inlet basin for the past couple of years or so, says that it now plans to drill two exploration wells in its Tiger Eye prospects onshore the west side of the inlet. The well locations are between two and three miles inland, to the immediate north of West Foreland.
In October NordAq filed a plan of operations with the Division of Oil and Gas for the drilling of the Tiger Eye North well. The company has since changed its plans, adding a second well, the Tiger Eye Central well, to its Tiger Eye project, NordAq’s president, Bob Warthen, told Petroleum News May 10. The plan is to drill first at Tiger Eye Central, probably later in this summer once all the permits are in place, Warthen said.
NordAq Energy Inc. has submitted an oil spill prevention and response plan for both wells to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. According to this plan the drilling will be conducted from two separate gravel drilling pads, with each pad connected by a temporary gravel road less than three miles long to an existing lease road along the coast — the prospect area, situated in two state leases, is close to the existing Trading Bay and West McArthur River oil and gas facilities on the Cook Inlet coast.
Directional drilling Directional drilling will be required at each location, with the North pad well involving extended reach drilling and requiring a drilling rig that is suitable for that type of drilling operation. Warthen said that NordAq is still working out which rig or rigs to use.
Both wells will be drilled to a depth of about 12,000 feet, targeting “oil-bearing zones within the Tyonek and Hemlock formations,” NordAq’s spill response plan says. The drilling of each well will take about 45 days, with well testing taking another 10 to 30 days, the plan says.
The plan of operations for Tiger Eye North said that the company is seeking both oil and natural gas.
According to a spacing exception request submitted to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the surface location of the Tiger Eye Central well will be 690 feet from the west line and 550 feet from the north line of section 19 of township 8 north, range 14 west, Seward Meridian. The bottom hole location will be 839 feet from the west line and 1433 feet from north line of section 24 of township 8 north, range 14 west, Seward Meridian. The well location is in State of Alaska lease ADL 391104.
Response services NordAq is contracting with O’Brien’s Response Management and Alaska Chadux Corp. for oil spill response services. The company says that in the unlikely event of a loss of well control it will call in Boots & Coots Well Control International for assistance. Oil spill prevention measures include careful well planning and design, as well as the use of blowout preventers on the wells. NordAq also says that it has access to well capping technology and could drill a relief well, should these response techniques prove necessary.
NordAq’s oil spill response plan is available for public review and comment until June 1.
—Alan Bailey
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