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Phillips Alaska, BP announce 50 million barrel discovery Meltwater North prospect south of Tarn on western edge of Kuparuk field Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
Confirmed North Slope oil was pushed farther south on the western edge of Kuparuk when Phillips Alaska Inc. and BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. said May 2 that their Meltwater North discovery is estimated to contain about 50 million barrels of proven and potential reserves.
The Meltwater prospect south of Tarn is just south of the boundary of the Kuparuk River unit.
Phillips Alaska predecessor ARCO Alaska has been working the western edge of Kuparuk since the early 1990s. After the company discovered the Alpine field north of Nuiqsut, focus shifted northwest.
The company returned to the Tarn area in 1997, drilled the Tarn discovery well and acquired extensive three-dimensional seismic over Tarn and prospects to the south.
The Tarn discovery was announced in March 1997 and is now producing from two new gravel pads.
A Meltwater South exploration well was drilled in the 1999 winter season south of the Meltwater North discovery well; no results have been announced for Meltwater South.
4,000 barrel per day test Phillips and BP said the Meltwater North No. 1 exploration well, about 10 miles south of the Tarn oil field in the Greater Kuparuk area, tested at 4,000 barrels per day of 37 degree API gravity oil. The companies said a second exploration well and sidetrack, Meltwater North No. 2 and Meltwater North No. 2A, confirmed a northern portion of the reservoir.
The Meltwater discovery was made on acreage purchased in June 1998 in the state’s first areawide oil and gas lease sale. Phillips Alaska holds a 58.46 percent interest in the Meltwater North No. 1 well, BP Exploration holds a 41.54 percent interest.
Completion data has been released on the Meltwater North 2 and the 2A. The Meltwater North 2 well reached 6,300 feet of measured depth and 6,132 feet of true vertical depth. Drilling was completed Feb. 20. The Meltwater North 2A, the directional sidetrack from the 2 well, reached a measured depth of 7,350 feet and a true vertical depth of 5,770 feet. Drilling was completed March 27. Depth information has not been released on the Meltwater North 1 as of May 15.
Fourth Kuparuk satellite The companies said that Meltwater has the potential to be the fourth Kuparuk satellite field to begin production. West Sak began production in 1997. Tarn and Tabasco began production in 1998.
“State areawide leasing and the application of advanced 3D seismic technology made this discovery possible in less than one year,” said Michael Richter, vice president of exploration and land for Phillips Alaska.
“This discovery marks a new era in the Alaska oil industry. This is Phillips Alaska’s first discovery as a new company and the first discovery this century for the state of Alaska,” said Richter.
“This discovery signals a bright start to exploration in the new millennium and will also serve to move production infrastructure farther south than ever before,” said F.X. O’Keefe, exploration business unit leader for BP Exploration (Alaska). “We will soon we working with Phillips on a field development plan.”
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