Repsol E&P USA Inc. plans to drill three exploration wells this coming winter to assess previous discoveries it made between the Kuparuk River and Colville River units.
The Spanish supermajor is permitting five potential well locations for the program, which would give the company some flexibility as it gleans more data from previous drilling.
The company is also proposing two routes for 40 to 50 miles of ice roads to access the drilling sites. Having already completed summer fieldwork, Repsol is proposing ice road preparation and construction into the start of the year, with drilling from January to April.
The program would involve three rigs drilling simultaneously.
The program will also include a small seismic program.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is taking comments through Dec. 5.
All over the map
Judging purely by drilling locations, Repsol is still analyzing the breadth of its leasehold.
The five proposed well locations cover the swath of land where Repsol has been exploring for the past three winters and even stretches a bit farther to the south (see map).
After cautiously advancing in the state for years through lease sales and joint ventures, Repsol made a big bet on Alaska in March 2011 by acquiring a 70 percent working interest in North Slope leases held by the Armstrong Oil & Gas subsidiary 70 & 148 LLC and its fellow Denver-based independent GMT Exploration LLC for $768 million.
The leasehold includes several clusters. To date, though, Repsol has devoted the majority of its energies to exploring the area between the Kuparuk River and Colville River units.
In early 2012, Repsol drilled Qugruk No. 4 in an offshore area off the Colville River delta and the Kachemach No. 1 well much farther south near the Kuparuk River unit Meltwater satellite. Qugruk No. 4 has since been incorporated into the Qugruk unit.
In early 2013, Repsol drilled Qugruk No. 1 and Qugruk No. 6 in the northern end of the leasehold and the Qugruk No. 3 well some 10 miles to the south. All three wells encountered hydrocarbons. Repsol performed drill stem tests on Qugruk No. 1 and Qugruk No. 6 and also performed some early geotechnical work for development.
In early 2014, Repsol filled in gaps in its previous exploration efforts, drilling the Qugruk No. 5 and Qugruk No. 7 wells in the area between Qugruk No. 1 and Qugruk No. 3. (That winter, Repsol also drilled the Tuttu No. 1 well just south of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk.)
Those wells “finished with positive results,” according to Repsol Chief Financial Officer Miguel Martinez. Speaking to analysts in May 2014, Martinez said, “We are working toward defining the most economical way to develop the area,” but added that it was too early to comment further about the results of the wells or future development plans.
Earlier in the year, Repsol Alaska Project Manager Bill Hardham addressed the question of development by saying, “I feel confident it’s coming. It’s not a matter of if, but when.”
Rig assignments
Repsol is proposing five well locations for this coming winter. When overlain atop a map of its previous exploration wells, the locations offer two different impressions: of a continued assessment of a large leasehold and of a focused assessment of one area.
The proposed Qugruk No. 101 and Qugruk No. 9 wells would be nestled between Qugruk No. 1 and Qugruk No. 6 from early 2013 and Qugruk No. 5 and Qugruk No. 7 from early 2014. That would continue previous work to explore the area between previous wells.
But the other three well locations are clustered around previous exploration.
The proposed Qugruk No. 301 well would be almost identical to Qugruk No. 3 from early 2013. The proposed Qugruk No. 8 and Qugruk No. 801 wells would be one mile and five miles to the south, respectively, into unexplored sections of the leasehold.
The proposed rig assignments offer some clarity.
Repsol is proposing Nabors 105AC to drill either Qugruk No. 101 or Qugruk No. 301, Nabors 99E to drill Qugruk No. 9 and Nabors 2ES to drill either Qugruk No. 8 and Qugruk No. 801. Those assignments suggest Repsol intends to cover the leasehold.
Two ice road routes
Given the conditional nature of the program - with three wells to be chosen from five locations - Repsol is also proposing two different routes for an ice road system.
The first option starts with a 3.76-mile demobilization road that would connect Kuparuk River unit Drill Site-2M to a 32.5-mile main road starting at the Mustang pad, at the nearby Southern Miluveach unit operated by Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. The main road would connect to a temporary camp and an ice airstrip near the Colville River before branching to the north (to reach Qugruk No. 101 and Qugruk No. 9) and to the south (to reach Qugruk No. 301, Qugruk No. 8 and Qugruk No. 801) with a camp in each region.
The second option is a 5.1-mile demobilization road from DS-2M and a 31.8-mile main road from the Mustang pad to a camp and an ice airstrip located southwest of the locations in the first option. From there, the road would branch south to reach Qugruk No. 801 and north to reach the others wells, with two temporary camps along the way.
Seismic program
In addition to drilling and routine well testing, Repsol plans to conduct micro-seismic fracture mapping on the Qugruk No. 301 and Qugruk No. 8 wells this coming winter.
The process involves arranging sensors around the well site. The sensor pick of vibrations that naturally occur during drilling activities, rather than creating surface-level vibrations.
“This micro-seismic fracture mapping will allow Repsol to understand the azimuth orientation of the maximum principal stress within the productive reservoir,” the company told state officials in an October 2014 plan of operations. “This azimuth orientation will ultimately dictate the trajectory of the horizontal laterals planned for production wells to optimize reservoir production over the life of the reservoir.”
