Jim Weeks, president and CEO of Winstar Petroleum LLC, told Alaska Support Industry Alliance members March 16 that his firm hopes to drill a well in November on its lease north of Kuparuk.
The Petersburg-based independent has 12,000 acres on the North Slope, including leases near Liberty and Badami, but it is focusing its attention on a 1,280-acre offshore lease that abuts the northern boundary of the Kuparuk River unit. The southern boundary of ADL 388584 is about one-half mile northeast of Oliktok Point.
Weeks said Winstar plans to drill a 7,500 foot step-out from an existing onshore pad, 3-R, which is about 250 feet from Simpson Lagoon. He said his company is expecting to find commercial quantities of oil based on 3-D seismic Winstar has purchased from Western Geco.
“We have 3-D seismic for the southern 20 percent of the lease, where we plan to drill,” Weeks told PNA in an interview. “The lease used to be part of the Milne Point unit. BP shot 3-D seismic in the northern part of the lease. We are negotiating to buy that now from Western Geco. We’ll take a look at it before we drill.”
Winstar is in negotiations with Phillips Alaska Inc., operator of the Kuparuk unit, for access to Phillips processing facilities.
Winstar plans to file for its drilling permits soon but drilling is not a certainty, Weeks said.
See full story in the next edition of Petroleum News Alaska.
Alaskan Northwest Natural Gas Transportation Co. notified the State Pipeline Coordinator's Office earlier this month that the company wants to discuss the steps needed to complete its 1981 application for a pipeline right-of-way across state lands. The company said that the original application "has been kept active and in good standing since that time."
The Joint Pipeline Office said Alaskan Northwest received a grant of right-of-way across federal lands in Alaska in 1980, but the state application was put on hold due to natural gas market conditions in the Lower 48.
John Ellwood, project manager for the Alaska Highway pipeline project, said in a statement that "Alaskan Northwest has maintained its permits and rights-of-way over the years in order to capture the timing advantage and gain momentum once the price of gas makes an Alaska natural gas pipeline viable."
Ellwood said the state right-of-way is part of perfecting the company's existing permits and approvals.
The pipeline right-of-way on State lands is approximately 235 miles. Alaskan Northwest already has in place the federal grant of right-of-way of more than 400 miles in Alaska.
Alaskan Northwest is the partnership designated under the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Act as the company to own and operate the Alaska Highway pipeline project. Alaskan Northwest is owned by subsidiaries of Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. and TransCanada PipeLines Limited. Foothills is the company designated by the Canadian government to own and operate the Canadian segment project.
