Of the eight operators who hoped to drill as many as 34 exploration wells on Alaska’s North Slope in 2012, two could not get rigs so postponed drilling, one will be drilling starting mid-May since it can drill year round, four have completed their wells, and one is just about to finish drilling as the winter exploration season in northern Alaska winds down to a close.
Of the 34 wells the eight oil companies had hoped to drill, six to eight wells might still be drilled this year by Great Bear Petroleum; Repsol drilled two out of the 15 wells it had planned; Brooks Range Petroleum drilled one out of two planned wells; Savant Alaska is close to finishing its one out of one; ConocoPhillips drilled one out of one; Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska drilled two out of two; and UltraStar Exploration and Linc Energy’s wells were cancelled until next winter.
If Savant is able to finish its well, a total of seven wells will have been drilled, with another six to eight in the works for Great Bear.
If all the wells planned would have been drilled, 2012 would have been the busiest exploration season since 1969, when 33 exploration wells were drilled following the Prudhoe Bay discovery.
Still, 13 to 15 wells for 2012 compares favorably to the single well drilled in the winter of 2011 by Brooks Range.
The reasons behind the lower-than-expected number of wells drilled included everything from a shortage of rigs or rig crews for UltraStar and Linc, to the challenges Repsol faced with getting approval from the North Slope Borough for five ice pads, three wells each. It started the season with green light to drill from four pads, but with only three rigs running at any one time.
Then Repsol had a blowout at one of its pads and although the equipment worked as expected, no one was hurt and no oil was spilled on the tundra, the company was forced to kill drilling plans at that pad and one other, as well as delayed from re-starting drilling elsewhere.
Brooks Range cut its well count from two to one at its Mustang prospect because it got all the information it needed from the first well, and is proceeding with development.
Savant’s permitting was held up after the Repsol blowout — one agency wanted to give all well plans a closer and longer look — otherwise it would have likely been finished drilling by now.
—Kay Cashman
