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Savant, Anadarko spud new wells
Well, well. That’s the recent news as spring descends on northern Alaska as Savant Alaska LLC and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. spud new exploration wells.
Savant spud the Kupcake No. 1 well March 26, becoming the third independent to drill an exploration well on the North Slope this winter.
Meanwhile, Anadarko spud the Chandler No. 1 well on April 1, marking the third exploration well the large Houston-based independent has drilled in northern Alaska this year.
Savant looking for large oil reservoir Savant Alaska, the local subsidiary of Denver-based Savant Resources LLC, spud Kupcake at 5:15 p.m. March 26 using the Kuukpik No. 5 rig. The well starts on an ice island east of Point Brower in the shallow waters of Foggy Island Bay, accessed by six miles of ice road connecting back to the Endicott causeway.
Savant plans to drill to a depth of 11,000 feet in order to test the Kemik formation, and also possibly determine whether the reservoir is connected to the adjacent Liberty project, operated by BP.
“We expect to be at total depth by the end of April,” said Greg Vigil, executive vice president of Savant Resources.
Savant estimates the reservoir contains 200 million barrels of oil reserves, about of half of which would be recoverable.
Originally scheduled to spud last winter, but pushed off a year by permitting and rig delays, Kupcake No. 1 is Savant’s first well in Alaska. The company is partnering on the project with Canadian independent Bordeaux Energy Inc. and Houston-based True North Energy Corp.
This winter exploration season promised from the start to belong to independent oil and gas companies and that expectation has proved correct.
A group of independents led by Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. has drilled two wells so far this winter, and the large Houston-based independent Anadarko Petroleum Corp. also drilled a pair of wells, including the first to specifically target gas in northern Alaska.
Of the majors, Chevron and ConocoPhillips spud wells on opposite sides of the North Slope this winter.
Anadarko going deep for gas Chandler No. 1 is the second exploration well Anadarko has drilled this winter in the foothills of the Brooks Range, part of a historic program specifically targeting gas in northern Alaska.
The exploration program is expected to run over several seasons.
Along with partners BG Alaska and Petro-Canada, Anadarko started the search for gas in the foothills with the Gubik No. 3 well, spud at the end of January and drilled to a total depth of around 4,300 feet.
Gubik No. 3 sits about 19 miles northeast of the village of Umiat, along the Colville River and the eastern boundary of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Anadarko is currently testing Gubik No. 3, but did not have any results to report.
Anadarko drilled Gubik with the Nabors rig 105, and also used the rig on Chandler No. 1, about six miles southwest of Gubik No. 3 and 13 miles due east of Umiat.
Chandler No. 1 is slated to drill to a depth of 10,200 feet.
“The objective is deeper,” spokesman Mark Hanley said about Chandler. “It’s trying to get down into a lower zone.”
The Anadarko gas prospects, discovered decades ago, but never developed, have been mentioned in recent months as the basis for hopes of building a bullet line to Southcentral Alaska.
Hanley said a highly successful exploration program this year and next year, followed by a seamless permitting and development program, could bring the field into production by 2015.
But he added that Anadarko is remaining cautious on the project, which is only in the first year of exploration to determine the size and quality of the gas field. He said the “learning curve” changes with each season and that any future development down the road depends on many factors, like how many rigs the company can secure.
“We’re not being pessimistic. We’re not being optimistic. We’re being realistic,” Hanley said.
This winter, Anadarko also returned to finish the Jacob’s Ladder oil well southeast of Prudhoe Bay, using the newly winterized Akita 63 rig.
—Eric Lidj
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