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Phillips stakes 13 new NPR-A wells; looking to permit up to 45 winter exploration wells
Kay Cashman
Phillips Alaska Inc. has staked 13 wells in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska for possible drilling this winter, federal officials told PNA. All stakings are new well locations.
Staking is a prelude to filing for drilling and related well permits, federal officials said. State officials said Phillips expects to submit application packets for up to 45 wells in Alaska this season; 19 of which have been previously permitted.
The wells staked by Phillips in the NPR-A are:
Grandview; well 1; SENW 27-10N-1W, UM; lease AA081807
Hunter; well 2; SESE 29-9N-1W, UM; lease AA081787
Lookout, well 2, NENE 25-11N-2E, UM; lease AA081819
Mitre, well 1; NWSW 2-10N-2E, UM; lease AA081801
Nova; well 1; NWSW 22-10N-2E, UM; lease AA081799
Nova; well 2; NENW 23-10N-2E, UM; lease AA081799
Pioneer, well 1; NWNW 14-9N-2E, UM; lease 081780
Rendezvous; well 3; SWSW 29-10N-2E, UM; lease AA081800
Spark; well 6; SWNW 11-10N-1E, UM; lease AA081805
Spark; well 7; NESE 5-10N-1E, UM; lease AA081806
Tuvaaq, well 1; NWNE 9-10N-3E, UM; lease AA081798
Tuvaaq, well 2; SENE 7-10N-3E, UM; lease AA081798
Tuvaaq, well 3; SWNE 30-11N-3E, UM; lease AA081818
Further evaluation this winter In a recent interview with PNA, Mike Richter, Phillips Alaska’s outgoing vice president of exploration and land, said that further evaluation of the three discoveries made in the NPR-A this past year was a number one priority.
Phillips and partner Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced in May that five NPR-A exploratory wells and a sidetrack, which targeted the Alpine producing horizon, all encountered oil or gas and condensate: Spark No. 1 and No. 1A, Moose’s Tooth C, Lookout No. 1, Rendezvous A and Rendezvous No. 2. These were the first discoveries since the NPR-A was reopened to exploration in 1999.
Kevin Meyers, president of Phillips Alaska, said in a statement in May: “Though the results are preliminary, we’re confident the discoveries will prove to be of commercial quantities. We believe that the five successful wells have encountered three separate hydrocarbon accumulations.”
Phillips said extensive testing was completed at the Spark drilling location and an unstimulated test at the Rendezvous A well. The Spark No. 1A tested at 1,550 barrels per day of liquid hydrocarbons and 26.5 million cubic feet a day of gas.
Rendezvous A well tested at an unstimulated rate of 360 bpd of liquid hydrocarbons and 6.6 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. Phillips said in May that three other wells were temporarily suspended to allow further evaluation next season.
BP won’t drill at Trailblazer this year BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. also drilled in NPR-A in the 2000-01 winter season.
“We will not be returning to Trailblazer in 2002. We want to complete additional technical studies before making a decision to do additional drilling,” BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Ronnie Chappell told PNA Aug. 28.
Logistically the NPR-A is very challenging, he said: “Additional drilling would involve 75 miles or more of ice roads and as a result drilling there is expensive.”
“We’re going to take our time and continue to evaluate the results of last year’s program, and integrate that with everything else we know and then make a decision about whether or not it makes sense to return to Trailblazer,” he said.
BP has completed two wells at the Trailblazer prospect in NPR-A, Chappell said, but the well results remain confidential.
He said BP has just completed a second summer of biological studies in NPR-A, is doing technical evaluations of other prospects in the reserve and is encouraged that BLM is working towards another NPR-A lease sale.
BP’s partners in the Trailblazer prospect are Chevron and Phillips.
Chappell said BP is still working on plans for 2002 winter exploration, but no other information is available at this time.
Further lease sales planned The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has said it expects to hold a second oil and gas lease sale in the northeast corner of the NPR-A in June 2002, and has begun planning for a 2004 sale in the northwest portion of the reserve.
In a May statement, BLM said that the 2002 sale will re-offer approximately 3 million acres made available but not leased in the prior NPR-A sale in May 1999.
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