Pantheon Resources plc, the AIM-quoted oil and gas exploration company with working interests of 89.2% to 100% in Great Bear North Slope projects, said it spud the Talitha A well ahead of schedule on Jan. 13. The well, which the company describes as an appraisal well and the state labels an exploration well, is some 8 miles west of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and Dalton Highway Milepost 386.7.
Drilling is planned to a total vertical depth of approximately 10,000 feet and will "target the shallowest Shelf Margin Deltaic horizon as the primary objective and will also drill through a number of secondary objectives including: (i) the ‘Slope Fan System', (ii) the ‘Basin Floor Fan', and (iii) the ‘Kuparuk' horizons," Pantheon said.
Given the number of targeted formations, and subject to positive results, Pantheon intends to make full use of the available winter drilling window, "undertaking drilling and testing operations as long as weather permits."
The Talitha A well is 4 miles from the Pipeline State 1 well, drilled in 1988 by ARCO, and which confirmed the presence of movable hydrocarbons in the objective horizons.
Pantheon estimates the Talitha well will target approximately 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil across the multiple stacked (primary and secondary) objectives. An independent expert's report was completed on the updip section of the Shelf Margin Deltaic, the primary target, and confirmed a prospective resource of 302 million barrels of recoverable oil, the company said.
- KAY CASHMAN
See full story in Jan. 17 issue of Petroleum News, available online Friday, Jan. 15 at www.PetroleumNews.com
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