NEWS BULLETIN

April 11, 2007 --- Vol. 13, No. 34April 2007

Brooks Range announces North Slope oil discovery

BRPC Group has discovered oil at its North Shore No. 1 exploration well on Alaska’s central North Slope, operator Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. said today.

Brooks Range told its parent company, AVCG, and BRPC’s joint venture partners TG World Energy, Bow Valley Alaska Corp., and Ramshorn Investments, that Nabors Alaska Drilling Rig 16-E “has encountered approximately 70 feet of oil-charged Ivishak sandstone formation” while drilling the well, which is north of the Prudhoe Bay oil field.

The North Shore No. 1 well was drilled to a final true vertical depth of 10,319 feet (13,309 feet measured depth) through the Ivishak sandstone, BRPC said. The joint venture partners are in the process of casing the well as a potential oil producer.

“The well is approximately 1,100 feet west of, and appears to be comparable to, the 1974 Mobil Gwydyr Bay South No. 1 well, which flowed at an average rate of 2,263 barrels of oil per day on production test from the same formation,” BRPC said.

The potential size and economic viability of the discovery will be evaluated using 3-D seismic data which BRPC acquired over the prospect area this winter.

A full testing program of the North Shore No. 1 well will be undertaken during the 2008 winter season, BRPC said.

In the same announcement, BRPC said its Sak River No. 1 well was drilled to a final true vertical depth of 11,348 feet (13,110 feet measured depth), but did not encounter hydrocarbons. The joint venture partners “have suspended the well, pending further evaluation, for the possibility of drilling an exploratory sidetrack during the 2008 winter drilling season. “

Data gathered from the Sak River well “will be integrated with proprietary 3-D seismic to evaluate the sidetrack exploration opportunity.”

BRPC also said that Kuukpik Veritas completed field acquisition of approximately 130 square miles of data for the North Shore 3-D seismic survey on March 31.

Agrium takes in first gas April 10

Agrium’s Alaska spokeswoman Lisa Parker told Petroleum News today, April 11, that the company’s Nikiski fertilizer facility received its first natural gas feedstock yesterday and will be back in production in about a week.

Agrium, which closed the facility Oct. 23 because of projected tight winter gas supplies from the Cook Inlet basin, did not lay off any of its 150 Alaska employees during the five-month shutdown.

“We have a highly talented, skilled workforce,” Parker said. “The company recognized their value” and elected not to lay off any employees.


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