ConocoPhillips has filed permits to drill two wells in its Bear Tooth unit in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, joining the list of possible North Slope explorers for the coming winter exploration season.
Cassin No. 1 and No. 6 well locations are southeast of Teshekpuk Lake in Area A of the unit, where the company and partner Anadarko Petroleum are required by the unit agreement with the Bureau of Land Management, to drill a well by June 1, 2013, in order to evaluate the sandstone encountered in the West Fish Creek No. 1 well.
The 2009 unit agreement also required operator ConocoPhillips to test the Scout No. 1 well by June 1, 2013.
The wells are likely to be classified as exploratory.
Both deadlines for the initial drilling obligations in the unit agreement have already been extended by one year, from 2012 to 2013, at the request of ConocoPhillips.
The Bear Tooth “unit terminates if both initial development obligations are not met,” KJ Mushovic, acting chief of BLM’s Alaska Office of Communications, told Petroleum News Oct. 11. But “the unit agreement does not place a limit on the number of extensions or the extension of time.”
At this time no extensions have been applied for by ConocoPhillips, Mushovic said.
Adding just two of ConocoPhillips’ possible three wells to the total for planned North Slope onshore and nearshore (Beaufort Sea) exploration wells, brings the count to somewhere between 12 and 22 for the coming short winter season, which will likely begin in December or January and end in April or early May.
It also bumps the number of explorers from four to five — ConocoPhillips, Brooks Range Petroleum, Linc Energy, Repsol and UltraStar Exploration.
However, one of those companies, UltraStar, has not yet made a decision to drill this winter.
Earlier this summer, UltraStar executive Jim Weeks was optimistic the Alaska-based independent would be able to drill the North Dewline No. 1 well in the first quarter of 2013, but on Oct. 8 Weeks said the company still needed half the money.
“I’m still chasing a couple of (investor) leads, so we will wait and see until about Nov. 15,” he said.
Pioneer’s well classified as exploratory
That said, one of Pioneer Natural Resources’ Nuna appraisal wells for this winter, the Nuna No. 2, or NDST-2, is an exploratory well, per September filings by the company with the State of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, bringing the total well count to between 13 and 23 and the number of explorers to six, assuming UltraStar does not drop out.
Pioneer’s winter program also involves testing the Nuna No. 1, or NDST-1, exploration well drilled last winter.
Like NDST-1, NDST-2 would start from an onshore ice pad at the Kuparuk River unit and continue to an offshore bottom-hole location on Pioneer lease ADL 355038.
Pioneer plans to hydraulically fracture and flow test NDST-2, shutting in both wells at the end of the season.
Nuna No. 1 tested at an initial production rate of 2,000 barrels of oil per day, leading Pioneer to announce a potential 50 million barrel discovery at the field.
Nuna is an extension of the Pioneer-operated Oooguruk unit.
Brooks Range’s plans
“In regard to upcoming exploration, we plan a delineation well and one or two sidetrack(s) offsetting our Tofkat No.1 Kuparuk discovery close to the NPR-A boundary in the Tofkat unit,” Brooks Range told Petroleum News in a Sept. 13 email. “These wells will test Brookian 3D anomalies, confirm the size of our Kuparuk discovery and test the deeper Jurassic offsetting two high flow rate Jurassic wells in ConocoPhillips’ Nanuq field area.”
Beechey Point unit drilling had been moved to the winter of 2014 per an extension from the state.
Telemark drilling was also deferred to 2014 “pending negotiations for a joint drilling agreement with Savant Alaska in the adjoining Badami unit,” Brooks Range said.
There is a possibility one or two exploration wells will be drilled in the company’s Kachemach unit this coming winter.
“Decisions on proceeding … will be made in the next few months and will be based on working interest owners’ technical and capital budgeting priorities,” Brooks Range said.
In early October, the company was more optimistic about the two Kachemach wells.
Linc aims for 5 wells
Linc Energy (Alaska) plans to drill five wells at the Umiat field on the border of NPR-A this winter, using the Kuukpik No. 5 drill rig, including a disposal well.
The other four wells are three vertical, two shallow and one deep, and a horizontal well in to the Lower Grandstand formation.
Repsol finishes last winter’s program
This winter Repsol will essentially complete the five-pad program it initially proposed for last winter.
Using three rigs (Nabors 105AC, 99AC, 9ES), the company plans to get at least one vertical well drilled at Qugruk 1, Q6 and Q3 ice pads.
Q2, where last winter’s shallow gas kick occurred, has been renamed Q6 and given a slightly different bottom hole location.
Repsol expects to get a well test on Q1 and Q6, drilling a vertical and a horizontal hole on both, and testing the horizontals. Depending on how much time it has before the season closes, the company might try to sidetrack those locations.
At Q3 it hopes to get a vertical test well drilled in the upcoming season.
More explorers than last winter
Excluded from the well and company counts for the upcoming 2012-13 Alaska North Slope winter exploration season is Great Bear, the company that is pioneering the possibility of oil production on the North Slope using the hydraulic fracturing techniques in source rocks that have proved so successful elsewhere in North America.
Unlike other North Slope onshore and nearshore explorers, Great Bear is able to drill year-round because its first six test wells are in an existing transportation corridor of the Dalton Highway and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, where drilling began this past summer.
Last winter’s exploration season reports from Petroleum News included Great Bear, with the total number of explorers at six, making the upcoming season busier by one explorer, plus Shell’s drilling far offshore in federal waters (see sidebar).
