The Alaska subsidiary of Denver-based Savant Resources LLC spud Kupcake at 5:15 p.m. using the Kuukpik No. 5 rig. The well starts on an ice island east of Point Brower in the shallow waters of Foggy Island Bay, accessed by six miles of ice road connecting back to the Endicott causeway.

Savant plans to drill to a depth of 11,000 feet in order to test the Kemik formation, and also possibly determine whether the reservoir is connected to the adjacent Liberty project, operated by BP.

“We expect to be at total depth by the end of April,” said Greg Vigil, executive vice president of Savant Resources.

Savant estimates the reservoir contains 200 million barrels of oil reserves, about of half of which would be recoverable.

Originally scheduled to spud last winter, but pushed off a year by permitting and rig delays, Kupcake No. 1 is Savant’s first well in Alaska. The company is partnering on the project with Canadian independent Bordeaux Energy Inc. and Houston-based True North Energy Corp.

This winter exploration season promised from the start to belong to independent oil and gas companies and that expectation has proved correct.

A group of independents led by Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. have drilled two wells so far this winter, and the large Houston-based independent Anadarko Petroleum Corp. also drilled a pair of wells, including the first to specifically target gas in northern Alaska.

Of the majors, Chevron and ConocoPhillips spud wells on opposite sides of the North Slope this winter.