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Vol. 19, No. 20 Week of May 18, 2014
Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry

Next step for Shadura

Nordaq plans to drill a second well in Kenai Peninsula prospect in fall

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

Nordaq Energy Inc. plans to move ahead with its Shadura project in Alaska’s northern Kenai Peninsula, with the company drilling a second well in the prospect in the fall, Chick Underwood, Nordaq’s land manager, told Petroleum News May 9. In early 2011 the company made a gas discovery in the prospect when drilling the Shadura No. 1 well, but the company needs to test the discovery with a second well before being able to make a development decision.

“It’ll really hinge on this second well,” Underwood said, commenting that the Shadura No. 2 well will target a different part of the Shadura structure from the Shadura No. 1 well.

Nordaq has not indicated the potential size of its find.

Road construction

Underwood said that, under the terms of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, construction of the gravel road cannot start until after July 15. But Nordaq anticipates completing the road by around Sept. 1, after which the company will begin moving in equipment with a view to starting drilling by the middle of September.

“We anticipate drilling the well starting, say, mid-September, concluding by the end of October, and with testing operations to take place once the well’s completed,” Underwood said.

The prospect is in Cook Inlet Region Inc. subsurface land, within the northwestern part of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Given the impact of the exploration and potential development project on surface land within the refuge, the project has required a federal environmental impact statement, or EIS, coupled with a formal “record of decision” by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

EIS completed

The EIS was completed and the record of decision issued on June 28, 2013, with the approved plan for the project allowing the construction of a 4.3-mile access road, from the Kenai Spur Highway at Captain Cook State Recreational Area. The Shadura No. 2 well will require a minimal drilling pad which would be expanded if Nordaq decides to move ahead with the development of a gas field, according to the company’s proposed development plan. However, if the results from Shadura No. 2 prove unfavorable, Nordaq will remove all equipment and gravel, restoring the land to a pre-construction state, the plan says.

Nordaq is a small, Anchorage-based company engaged in oil and gas exploration in the Cook Inlet basin. In addition to Shadura, the company has been pursuing another gas field possibility in its Tiger Eye Central prospect, in state land on the west side of the Cook Inlet.



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