Oil production from the eastern North Slope Badami unit is being shut-in, likely due to the low price of Alaska crude, although field operator, Savant Alaska, a Glacier Oil and Gas Co., has not yet made a formal statement confirming the well suspensions.
In response to an email from Petroleum News this morning asking whether any sundry permits had been filed by Glacier Oil/Savant for Badami unit wells, Jeremy Price, chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission, said AOGCC hasn't "received any sundries yet but received word that shutdown has been ordered. Don't know which wells specifically but might be everything at Badami."
According to AOGCC records, Badami averaged 1,252 barrels of oil per day in March, down 7.7%, 105 bpd, from a February average of 1,357 bpd and down 31.1% from a March 2019 average of 1,817 bpd.
Seven wells in the Badami sands participating area produced 716 barrels in March; with the other 804 bpd coming from an "undefined pool." B1-11A was the highest Badami sands producer at 320 bpd.
Two wells were listed as producing from the undefined pool, B1-07 at 664 bpd and B1-38 at 140 bpd.
Glacier has said B1-07 (Starfish prospect) produces from the Cretaceous Killian interval, which is a turbidite sandstone reservoir immediately above the oil source rock and below the Badami sands that form the main reservoir for the Badami oil field.
Badami produced 173 barrels of water in March.
The Killian oil discovery, which is on leases outside the Badami sands PA, was made in early 2018, in the East Mikkelsen prospect (renamed Starfish by Glacier) between Badami and the Point Thomson unit.
In early testing B1-07 produced 2,500 barrels per day, tapering off to 1,600 bpd by January 2019.
Describing the Starfish prospect prior to drilling, a Glacier official said, "If this well works close to what we think it will, it should open five to seven more prospects similar to it."
- KAY CASHMAN
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said today that it has issued a permit to Hilcorp Alaska to conduct a geohazards survey in federal waters in Cook Inlet.
BOEM said the area to be surveyed is in lower Cook Inlet, west to southwest of Kachemak Bay, an area where Hilcorp acquired 14 Cook Inlet outer continental shelf leases in a 2017 federal sale.
BOEM said Hilcorp conducted an exploration seismic survey over several of the leases last fall and is now proposing to conduct a geohazard site clearance survey over these leases and the surrounding area, some 228 square kilometers.
Hilcorp expects to begin the survey in late summer, BOEM said, and has until Oct. 31 to complete operations.
The survey will be conducted by a geohazard survey vessel, with data collecting information both mounted on the vessel and towed behind it. BOEM said there will be trained protected species observers monitoring for marine mammals on the vessel throughout the survey program.
- KRISTEN NELSON
See full stories in May 10 issue, available online Friday, May 8 at www.PetroleumNews.com
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