Oil Search (Alaska) LLC, operator of the North Slope Pikka unit, plans two wells - each with a sidetrack - at Pikka this winter, one in the southern portion and one in the central portion of the unit.
In a fourth plan of exploration for Pikka, submitted to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Sept. 28, Oil Search provided an update from the third POE, submitted by then-operator Armstrong Energy LLC in September 2017, and laid out plans for this winter’s exploration and for work covering the plan year, which runs from Dec. 1 through Nov. 30, 2019.
Armstrong had two wells in the 2017-18 plan, Pikka 2 and the Pikka 2A sidetrack, in the southwestern portion of the unit in sections 34 and 35 of township 11 north, range 5 east, Umiat Meridian, wells critical to delineation of that area. Routine and special core analysis was planned.
Oil Search said special core analysis of the Qugruk 8 well “identified key uncertainties with respect to reservoir quality distribution and water saturation as predicted by capillary pressure experiments,” and the objective of the core analysis on the Pikka 2 and 2A was “to reduce these uncertainties and narrow the range of outcomes in the Nanushuk reservoir model.”
Drilling operations proposed in the third POE were deferred due to then on-going negotiations with Oil Search (which acquired Armstrong’s working interest in the unit and took over as operator in March) and continuing negotiations with Kuukpik Corp. on a surface access agreement.
Fourth POE
Oil Search said “it is actively engaged with Kuukpik regarding a comprehensive Land Use Agreement” for Pikka unit appraisal and development operations.
On the drilling side, the company said it will begin construction of ice roads and two ice pads on or about Dec. 1, with the ice roads starting from the Mustang Pad in the Southern Miluveach Unit; two rigs will be mobilized from Deadhorse on or about Jan. 15.
Pikka B and Pikka C drilling is planned to begin on or about Feb. 1.
Oil Search said it is in the pre-front-end engineering and design phase for Pikka development. The Pikka B and C wells are necessary to further appraise the reservoir prior to the start of FEED “and will inform our subsurface basis of design for planning of development wells and production infrastructure.”
Pikka B is planned to a depth of some 6,513 feet true vertical depth and the Pikka B deviated sidetrack to a depth of some 4,923 feet TVD “in the southwestern portion of the PKU in sections 34 and 35 of T11N, R5E,” the same area where Pikka 2 and 2A were proposed.
Routine and special core analysis is planned, and fluid sampling is planned for the Pikka B deviated sidetrack.
Oil Search said it has been modeling enhanced recovery through miscible gas injection but needs additional testing of single-phase oil samples to confirm results.
The Pikka C well is planned to a depth of some 4,919 feet TVD, with the Pikka C horizontal sidetrack to a depth of some 4,175 feet TVD. The location is in the central portion of the unit, Oil Search said, in sections 8, 9 and 16 of T12N, R6E.
“The Pikka C wells are critical to delineate the northern limit extension of the reservoir and have the potential to have significant impact on the subsurface basis of design,” the company said. Conventional core will be acquired and fluid sampling where appropriate.
A full suite of logs is planned for the Pikka C sidetrack, “and a production test is planned, contingent upon results of the log evaluation,” the company said.
