Anadarko Petroleum believes its land holdings in the foothills of the Brooks Range have the “potential” to contain between 2 trillion and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The early resource estimate comes from a series of presentations the company has been delivering at energy conferences around the country since late March. Anadarko most recently included the figure in a presentation on June 24 at the 18th Annual Wachovia Nantucket Equity Conference.
The estimate covers the Gubik, Chandler and Umiat prospects, all clustered around the Colville River near the village of Umiat.
Across Alaska, Anadarko owns 4.7 million gross acres of land, mostly through partnerships with other companies. Through the end of 2007, those leases contained an estimated 58 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Anadarko drilled exploration wells at Gubik and Chandler earlier this year, completing the Gubik No. 3 well and suspending the deeper Chandler No. 1 well midway to the target depth. As early as April, Anadarko had been testing the well results from Gubik No. 3, but did not have any information to report publicly.
The most recent reserve figures for Gubik come from a joint U.S. Navy and U.S. Geological Survey expedition in the early 1950s, which estimated that Gubik contained 600 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
Anadarko is partnering at Gubik and Chandler with Petro-Canada and BG Group.
See full story in July 29 issue of Petroleum News, available to subscribers online at noon, Friday, July 27, at www.PetroleumNews.com
