POD: Hilcorp continues to look at drilling into NTBU from Monopod
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Kristen Nelson
Hilcorp Alaska has been trying to reach gas reserves in the North Trading Bay unit by sidetracking wells from the Monopod in the Trading Bay unit, but so far without success.
In the company's 2024 plan of development for North Trading Bay, submitted April 1 to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas, the company reviewed two failed attempts to sidetrack in 2022 and a third in 2023, and told the division that drilling into the NTBU is unlikely in the 2024 POD period, July 1 through June 30, 2025, "due to the need to refresh access options following the recent failed drill wells, as well as winter drilling constraints limiting the drilling season."
Hilcorp said it "needs time to further evaluate its options to develop the NTBU and will be able to provide additional insight in the 2025 POD."
Production ceased in 2005 In its May 25, 2023, approval of the 2023 POD for NTBU, the division said there are three state oil and gas leases at NTBU.
Hilcorp became operator in 2013, acquiring NTBU and the Spark and Spurr platforms from then-operator Marathon Oil Co.
The platforms were installed in 1968, Spark by ARCO and Spurr by Texaco.
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission data show the platforms produced both oil and gas, with both coming online in 1968.
The last AOGCC report of production from the platforms was in 1992.
The division said Marathon ceased production at the North Trading Bay unit in 2005, and while it established a long-term abandonment plan in 2008, the plan was not implemented.
The Spark and Spurr platforms are in lighthouse mode, the division said, and while the crane and helidecks are functional, crew facilities are not and there are no active wells.
In its 2017 POD Hilcorp told the division that returning the platforms to production was not economically or technically feasible and said it had no plans to return either the Spark or Spurr platform to production.
The company did, however, plan to restore NTBU production by drilling from the Monopod in the Trading Bay unit during the 2018 POD -- drilling which did not occur.
2019 POD denied In its 2019 POD Hilcorp proposed to sidetrack from the A-10 on the Monopod rather than the well proposed in 2018, the A-04RD.
Based on what it described as a lack of diligent work to restore production, the division denied the 2019 POD and administratively terminated the unit.
Hilcorp appealed and the DNR commissioner, after a review, invited the company to submit a new POD including identification of drilling targets within 16 months and drilling in the subsequent POD.
Hilcorp submitted the 2021 POD, which was approved, requesting a 20-month length to align that POD with other Hilcorp offshore Cook Inlet units and committing to sidetracking the A-10RD from the Monopod into the Tyonek gas sands at NTBU.
The division said Hilcorp attempted to sidetrack the A-10RD but encountered mechanical issues; a second attempt to drill also encountered mechanical challenges.
In July 2022 the company notified the division that it was going to redesign the sidetrack for another drilling attempt in 2023.
That attempt was also unsuccessful.
2024 POD In its 2024 POD, Hilcorp told the division sidetracking the A-10RD3 in 2023 did not result in production. The drill pipe failed, the company said, and the bottomhole assembly was left in the hole "resulting in suspension of the well."
Hilcorp said it "is evaluating options to restore production from NTBU."
It said the failures in 2022 and 2023 warranted "a deeper look at the development plan and consideration of other wellbores for access," and said it plans to "study the subsurface and facility access options and propose a refreshed development strategy."
P&A Hilcorp said it is committed to the plug and abandon program authorized by AOGCC, with focus on the Baker platform in the recently terminated Middle Ground Shoal unit in 2024.
The company said because of facility and structural work required to access Baker platform wells and because of higher risk posed by Platform C wells, also in MGS, P&A work on Spark and Spurr platforms has been pushed into 2026.
Fuel gas Hilcorp's goal in producing the NTBU gas is to provide fuel gas for the Monopod, which currently receives fuel gas from the Steelhead platform, freeing up more Trading Bay unit gas for sale.
Because NTBU gas would cross a unit boundary into the Trading Bay unit, Hilcorp would have to pay royalty to the state on the gas, so the company's plan is that once there is sustained production of NTBU gas, it would apply to DNR to merge NTBU into TBU.
--KRISTEN NELSON
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