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Hilcorp planning Blossom pad, wells The Ninilchik unit drilling pad would target shallow gas reserves unreachable from existing Grassim Oskoloff pad Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
As part of its continued focus on reviving the Ninilchik unit, Hilcorp Alaska LLC wants to build a new pad at the Cook Inlet unit and drill as many as two exploration wells.
The proposed Blossom pad would be a mile north of the existing Grassim Oskoloff pad at the onshore unit along the coastline of the southern Kenai Peninsula near Ninilchik.
The proposed 2.8-acre pad would sit on private land outside the unit but would directionally target shallow offshore gas reserves within the unit. Any produced gas would be processed at Grassim Oskoloff facilities. The reserves cannot be reached from existing pads due to “geometry considerations,” according to information from Hilcorp.
The pad would require a small gravel road connecting to an existing gravel access road.
The first well would head northwest to a measured depth of some 11,750 feet and a vertical depth of some 8,300 feet to a bottom hole location beneath ADL 389737. The depth and trajectory of the second well would depend on the results of the first.
Hilcorp would test each well for seven days.
Construction would begin in December with drilling scheduled to begin in January.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is taking comments through Dec. 5.
Full steam ahead Since acquiring the Cook Inlet assets of Marathon Oil Corp. and Union Oil Company of California in two deals in 2011 and 2012, Hilcorp has been primarily focused on rejuvenating existing units by performing well maintenance and improving infrastructure.
But the company has also been conducting limited exploration at existing fields.
In this capacity, Hilcorp has devoted more resources to Ninilchik than to any other unit.
A four-well program in 2013 and 2014 explored potential reserves near the existing Susan Dionne, Paxton and Falls Creek pads but overlooked Grassim Oskoloff. The earlier program led to the construction of the Bartolowitz pad just south of the Falls Creek pad.
Earlier this year, Hilcorp proposed the 6,500-foot GO No. 8 well to target the Sterling and Beluga formations above the Grassim Oskoloff participating area, west of the Grassim Oskoloff pad and evaluating the GO-7 well with an eye toward converting it to produce from the Beluga pool. The plans made no mention of exploration to the north.
The next plan of development for Ninilchik is scheduled for March 2015.
In a 2007 report, Netherland, Sewell & Associates estimated 1.1 billion cubic feet of proved and probable (2P) reserves at the Grassim Oskoloff field. Generally, “probable” means at least a 50 percent chance of recovered volumes meeting the 2P estimate.
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