Oil Search files Pikka POD supplement

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

According to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas on Nov. 9 Oil Search (Alaska) filed a supplement to its second plan of development for the North Slope Pikka unit, a period that begins Feb. 1 and continues through Jan. 31, 2022.

Per the division the POD was filed on Nov.1 (see story in Nov. 8 issue of Petroleum News) with both the division and Arctic Slope Regional Corp.

The Pikka unit is west of the Prudhoe Bay unit, between the Kuparuk River and Colville River units and is the site of the first big Nanushuk oil reservoir discovery on the North Slope.

The supplement provides additional information to clarify the proposed near-term activities in the second POD.

“Field activities in 2021 include spring breakup and summer work to maintain and improve gravel infrastructure installed during the 2019-2020 winter season,” Oil Search said.

During breakup, annual hydrology studies will be conducted within and in support of the unit. Select culverts under roadways will be cleared to minimize flooding events. Gravel will be reworked on the Nanushuk Operations Pad and the MC7903 lake access road and pad, and Oil Search will “maintain and continue to improve sections of the Nanushuk and Mustang roads.”

The company will continue to “refine subsurface modeling and advance development well design in 2021, in preparation for development drilling activities scheduled to commence in 2022.”

The modeling effort includes “full integration of seismic, high resolution log information, special core analysis and other reservoir information to achieve a fully history-matched and peer-reviewed model,” Oil Search said. “The model is used to optimize drilling locations and recovery mechanisms for waterflood and EOR. Drilling plans and individual well drilling and stimulation procedures also will be developed.”

Upon FEED, or front-end engineering and design, entry, Oil Search said it will engage in a major engineering effort, including work on all major initial project phase components.

This work will include engineering and design of the following:

* Operations camp and associated facilities.

* Production facility,

* Grind and Inject facility.

* Drill site infrastructure.

* Seawater treatment plant facility.

* Pipelines and associated infrastructure.

The POD supplement was filed by Oil Search (Alaska) COO Matt Elmer.

Pikka is expected to go online in 2025.

- KAY CASHMAN