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88 Energy selects farm-out partner for Nanushuk North Slope exploration wells
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
88 Energy Ltd. said Nov. 9 that planning and permitting for the first well at its North Slope Project Peregrine remains on schedule for a late February spud.
The Australia independent, a Perth-based ASX and AIM listed firm, previously said it plans to drill two exploration wells at Project Peregrine in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on acreage it acquired in an off‐market takeover of XCD Energy.
The wells will be drilled by 88 Energy operating subsidiary Accumulate Energy Alaska, which is run by long-time North Slope geologist Erik Opstad.
The Nov. 9 ASX announcement said a preferred bidder had been selected for the Peregrine farm-out, although until the final documents are executed more details about the deal and the selected bidder’s name won’t be made public.
“Subject only to finalization of standard documentation,” execution of the final documents is already underway and will be finished “in the next few weeks,” 88 Energy said, noting the “multiple” bids received were “competitive.”
88 Energy Managing Director Dave Wall said, “The strong interest shown in the imminent drilling program at Project Peregrine is both a testament to the quality of the opportunity and the hard work done by the 88E team over the last few months. We look forward to working with the preferred bidder to close the transaction and get going on the drill program.”
Targeting the Nanushuk The main target of the two wells is the prolific Nanushuk reservoir.
The prospects to be drilled in the 195,000-acre Peregrine block are Harrier and Merlin.
Merlin 1 is considered a direct analogy to ConocoPhillips’ Willow oil discovery, while ConocoPhillips’ Harpoon prospect is interpreted to lie on the same sequence boundaries as Harrier 1.
The prospects lie between the Umiat oil field to the south and Willow and Harpoon to the north.
Opstad told Petroleum News that the Nanushuk can be reached at less than 5,000 feet in the area, while a third prospect in the Peregrine block, Harrier Deep, has a Torok objective at about 10,000 feet. It will not be drilled in the 2020-21 winter season.
- KAY CASHMAN
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