Some satellites see production increase
While additional drilling was able to mitigate declining production at the main Kuparuk field, ConocoPhillips actually reported production increases at some of the satellites.
The Kuparuk River unit includes four official satellites: West Sak, Tarn, Tabasco and Meltwater. The old Palm satellite is now developed in conjunction with the main field.
At the end of 2014, West Sak had 92 active wells at six drill sites — down from 96 active wells at six drill sites at the end of 2013 and 102 active wells at the end of 2012. West Sak shares its drill sites — 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1J and 3K — with the main Kuparuk field.
Even with the decline in active wells, production increased. West Sak produced some 16,241 barrels per day in 2014, up from 15,772 bpd in 2013, up from 14,185 bpd in 2012.
In its current plan of development, ConocoPhillips wrote that “the pace of future West Sak development has slowed while the performance of recent developments in evaluated,” using language it had previously used in its 2014 plan of development.
The biggest development planned for West Sak is North East West Sak. The NEWS project is a $450 million program to expand existing Drill Site 1H. The project was approved earlier this year and is expected to come online by early 2017 and produce some 8,000 gross bpd at its peak. According to the new plan of development, ConocoPhillips plans to conduct planning work this year and drill four horizontal multilateral production wells and 15 vertical injection wells starting in 2016.
The company is also considering additional NEWS development programs at Drill Site 1N, 3K and 3R, although all three projects are in the early stages and have yet to be publicly defined in depth. In public comments earlier this year, ConocoPhillips said it was currently appraising potential NEWS developments at the 1N and 1P drill sites.
Drill Site 1D and 1C This year, the company is planning West Sak drilling campaigns at Drill Site 1D and 1C.
The Drill Site 1D program calls for four wells. 1D-143 would be a single-lateral into the B sand. 1D-145 would be a quad-lateral into the D Sand, A4 Sand, A3 Sand and A2 Sand. Those two wells are designed to replace the existing 1D-140 well. 1D-146 would be a single-lateral into the D Sand east of the existing 1C-135 and 1D-141A wells. 1D-142 would be an injector supporting 1C-135, 1D-141A and the new 1D-146 wells.
The company already expanded the existing gravel pad to accommodate the wells and expects the drilling will require an expansion of the Sak Core Area participating area.
Given the success of two recent wells at Drill Site 1C, ConocoPhillips plans to drill four more this year — two producers and two injectors — and is considering three others.
Tarn The Tarn satellite is also getting considerable investment.
At the end of 2014, the Tarn participating area had 69 active wells at two drill sites, 2N and 2L — up from 61 active wells through 2013 and 63 active wells through 2012.
Tarn produced 7,700 bpd in 2014, up from 5,600 bpd in 2013 and 7,100 bpd in 2012.
After deferring four wells in 2013, ConocoPhillips drilled nine development wells at Tarn in 2014. The success of the first six wells prompted the decision to drill three more wells.
•Well 2N-323A is a rotary sidetrack slant producer brought online in May 2014. The well was producing 360 bpd by the end of 2014.
•Well 2L-322A is a new horizontal producer brought online in August 2014. The well was producing 380 bpd by the end of 2014.
•Well 2N-322 is a new horizontal producer brought online in October 2014. The well was producing 650 bpd by the end of 2014.
•Well 2L-318 is a new horizontal injector brought online in November 2014. The well was injecting 4,250 bpd of water per day by the end of 2014.
•Well 2L-314 is a new slant producer brought online in November 2014. The well was producing 274 bpd by the end of 2014.
•Well 2N-303A is a rotary sidetrack slant producer brought online in November 2014. The well was producing 740 bpd by the end of 2014.
•Well 2N-337C is a rotary sidetrack slant injector brought online in December 2014 and is currently awaiting hook-up.
•Well 2N-350A and Well 2N-319A are rotary sidetrack slant producers put into production in January and February 2015, respectively.
This year, the company is planning a five-well program and might drill more, depending on results. They would be: the horizontal multi-stage producer 2N-336, the slanted injector 2N-312 and the horizontal multistage producers 2L-308, AL-328 and 2L-316.
The drilling campaign in 2014 and 2015 is delineating the Bermuda sands at Tarn, according to ConocoPhillips. The company has been encouraged so far by results of drilling into the Purple interval and is evaluating the Cairn and Esker intervals.
Tabasco and Meltwater At the end of 2014, Tabasco had the same well profile as the year before: 12 wells at Drill Site 2T — nine producers and three injectors — of which only seven were active.
Tabasco produced some 1,549 gross bpd in 2014, down from some 1,711 gross bpd in 2013 and up from 1,076 bpd in 2012, according to ConocoPhillips.
Although Drill Site 2T has several empty slots for both production and injection wells from the initial phase of development, ConocoPhillips is currently focusing on enhanced oil recovery and isn’t planning any exploration or development drilling this coming year.
At the end of 2014, Meltwater had 17 actives wells at Drill Site 2P, up from 15 active wells in both 2013 and 2012, according to ConocoPhillips. Meltwater produced some 1,439 gross bpd in 2014, down from 1,971 bpd in 2013 and 2,719 bpd in 2012.
Although recent activities at the field have been limited to maintenance and repairs, the company wrote that it is analyzing development opportunities, including coiled tubing sidetracks and producer-to-injector well conversions, “in the light of new seismic data, recent surveillance findings, absence of injection water supply and business climate,” language identical to an assessment the company made in its previous development plan.
—Eric Lidji
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