Linc Energy is flow testing a well at the Umiat field, the company said on April 23.
A local subsidiary of the Australian independent is flow testing the Umiat No. 18 well and expects to have results sometime in early May, according to the company.
“I am delighted with this development, to be flowing oil at Umiat is a major milestone for Linc Energy. I look forward to announcing the results of the flow tests in the next two weeks,” Linc Energy Chief Executive Officer Peter Bond said in a prepared statement.
The results from Umiat No. 18 will be the first from the prospect since 1979, when the U.S. Navy drilled the last well at the oil field in the foothills of the Brooks Range.
Previously, Linc said it would drill Umiat No. 18 vertically into the Lower Grandstand formation to collect five 60-foot sections and continue below the Lower Grandstand “to assess the deeper resource potential.” In addition to Umiat No. 18, Linc is drilling the Umiat 23-H well this winter. Umiat 23-H is designed as a directional well into the same Lower Grandstand interval to provide “comparative flow testing” for economic purposes.
Earlier this year, Linc announced that the Umiat No. 18 well had collected 300 feet of core and encountered 100 feet of net oil pay in the Lower Grandstand formation.
The Umiat prospect straddled the boundary between state lands and the federal National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. This winter, Linc has been drilling on its federal acreage.
A long time coming
The results of the flow testing will provide the best data from Umiat in 34 years.
The U.S. Navy drilled 12 wells at Umiat between 1946 and 1979. The program established the presence of a sizable oil field, but the federal government ultimately decided the prospect was too remote and too technically complex to be economic.
The earlier wells include a mix of dry holes and flow tests as high as 400 barrels per day.
A combination of higher oil prices and improved technology has brought string of independent oil companies to Umiat over the past decade and a half, most recently Linc.
Linc wanted to drill five wells at Umiat last winter, but weather and other delays forced it to postpone the program by one year. The company originally planned to drill between four and six wells this winter, but additional weather delays forced the company to scale the program back to two wells. Linc said it plans to finish the program next winter.
The additional work slated for next year includes a Class II disposal well.
According to a recent third party estimate, Umiat contains more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil in place with proved and probable reserves of 154.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Linc anticipates peak production of around 50,000 barrels per day from Umiat.
—Eric Lidji
