The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has opened most of the North Slope tundra for winter travel, but actual exploration activities still remain in their earliest stages.
A few companies are beginning to mobilize equipment to drilling locations, while the others are still deliberating about whether to pursue exploration programs this winter.
While the state opened the eastern and western coastal area for travel on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9, respectively, it only conditionally opened the lower foothills because a blizzard scoured the snow pack along a 20-mile swath from milepost 400 of the Dalton Highway to the Franklin Bluffs well pad. As of press time, the upper foothills area remained closed.
As it stands, the total well count for the 2013 winter exploration season remains uncertain, with three to six companies drilling as few as eight and as many as 18 wells.
Exploration at Cassin?
While ConocoPhillips Alaska President Trond-Erik Johansen recently outlined a $1 billion budget for Alaska operations this year, the company is remaining mum about whether any of that money is being set aside for exploration in the Bear Tooth unit.
The $1 billion would go toward normal development activities at legacy fields, as well as building the CD-5 satellite of the Alpine field and preparing for a 2014 program in the Chukchi Sea, Johansen said in his Jan. 11 speech at the annual Meet Alaska conference.
But Johansen said nothing about the two wells that ConocoPhillips recently permitted in Bear Tooth, one of its two federal units in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
In late December and early January, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued permits for ConocoPhillips to drill the Cassin No. 1 well on lease AA081754 and the Cassin No 6 well on lease AA081833. The leases are both in Unit Area A, a subset of the unit marked for initial work commitments. After getting a yearlong extension of those commitments in June 2011, ConocoPhillips is now on the hook to drill at least one exploration well in Unit Area A and test a previous well it drilled in the unit — Scout No. 1 — by June 1.
On Jan. 18, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued a permit for ConocoPhillips to drill the Cassin No. 1 well, describing it as a straight vertical hole.
Linc: a rig and permits
Linc Energy Inc. is progressing steadily on its four to six well program at Umiat.
In late December, the Australian company began mobilizing the Kuukpik No. 5 rig to the oil field in the foothills of the Brooks Range Mountains using overland travel and a C-130 Hercules aircraft. The overland portion of the trip is occurring along a new snow road.
Since then, Linc has applied for two drilling permits from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees federal lands. The first is for Umiat DSP No. 1, a Class II disposal well on federal lease AA081726. The second is for Umiat No. 16, a vertical well on federal lease AA084141 to test of an oil-bearing interval in the Lower Grandstand formation. While the Umiat prospect crosses the border of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, Linc is focusing its exploration work this winter on federal acreage.
Following Umiat No. 16, Linc plans to drill Umiat No. 16H, a horizontal well into the same Lower Grandstand interval, the Umiat No. 23 well to test deeper gas and oil targets in the Lower Grandstand, and “one or both” of the Umiat No. 18 and Umiat No. 19 wells.
Nuna permit for Pioneer
Although Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska Inc. received an AOGCC permit in early December to drill Oooguruk NDST-02 — also known as the Nuna No. 2 well — the company has yet to spud the onshore directional well to appraise an offshore discovery.
When the company announced its 2013 winter program this year, it mentioned that plans for a four-well development program from its Oooguruk Island, specifically completion activities, would have to wait until “well after the freeze” to accommodate equipment. As an exploration well, Nuna No. 2 is unlikely to require as much time or equipment.
Ice roads for Repsol
Repsol E&P USA Inc. is currently mobilizing equipment to two locations.
The Spanish company recently completed one lane of a two-lane ice road to its Qugruk No. 1 and Qugruk No. 6 wells, located between the Oooguruk and Colville River units.
Qugruk No. 1, or Q1, is a well Repsol permitted last year. Nabors rig 105 is currently en route to the location and Repsol expects to begin drilling Q1 by the end of the month, the company said Jan. 23. As of press time, Repsol said Nabors rig 99 was about to begin moving to the Qugruk No. 6, or Q6, drilling location, where a camp is already in place.
Repsol previously permitted Q6 last year as Qugruk No. 2.
In addition to the ice road, Repsol recently completed a test flight on its ice runway.
Repsol is also planning to drill a Qugruk No. 3 or Qugruk No. 5 well this year.
BRPC and UltraStar unsure
At last check, two smaller independents had yet to finalize exploration plans.
While Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. is permitting infrastructure for its Mustang development at the Southern Miluveach unit, it is still considering whether it will also drill a well and two sidetracks at the Tofkat unit or two wells at the Kachemach unit.
And UltraStar Exploration has yet to finalize plans for its North Dewline No. 1 well.
—Eric Lidji
