Marathon announces two more successful tests at Ninilchik unit

Petroleum News Alaska

Two more wells at Marathon Oil Co.’s Ninilchik exploration unit south of Kenai have been successfully tested for natural gas, the company said April 24. The discovery well, the Grassim Oskolkoff No. 1, was announced earlier in the year.

Marathon is operator of the Ninilchik unit, which is 35 miles south of Kenai. The company holds a 60 percent working interest in the unit; Unocal Alaska holds the remaining 40 percent.

The recently drilled Grassim Oskolkoff No. 2 well, drilled off the same pad as the Grassim Oskolkoff No. 1, “separately tested three sands at a combined restricted gas rate of 11.9 million cubic feet per day,” the company said. “The three tests were from a total perforated interval of 169 feet, ranging in depth from 8,048-9,440 feet.”

The Falls Creek Unit No. 1 redrill tested gas at a restricted rate of 6.8 million cubic feet per day from 36 feet of perforations in a single sand at a depth of 8,714 feet. “Several promising intervals shallower in the well were not tested,” Marathon said. The smaller Falls Creek unit, which lies in the northern third of the Ninilchik unit, is completely surrounded by Ninilchik unit acreage and has been incorporated into the Ninilchik unit, John Barnes, manager of Marathon’s Alaska business unit, told PNA April 24.

“Marathon is very encouraged by three successful wells at Ninilchik, which have tested at a combined gas rate of nearly 30 million cubic feet per day. Additional exploratory drilling is expected in 2002 and 2003 in preparation for first gas sales by the beginning of 2004,” Barnes said.

As reported in the April 21 edition of Petroleum News Alaska, Marathon plans to begin gas development activities at the Grassim Oskolkoff drill pad approximately nine miles north of Ninilchik in August and start producing gas from the pad in December 2003.

Ninilchik gas will be transported to existing or new markets through the proposed Kenai Kachemak Pipeline, a company jointly owned by Marathon and GUT, a subsidiary of Unocal.