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DOG OKs Great Bear exploration plan
Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has approved Great Bear Petroleum’s latest exploration plan for the company’s leases on the North Slope. In an approval document dated Jan. 9 the division said that the plan includes required documentation demonstrating that the company’s operations have potential benefits that outweigh possible adverse effects, and that provisions in the plan protect the state’s interests while mitigating potential environmental and social impacts.
Under the plan Great Bear proposes the drilling of three exploration wells this winter. All of the wells will be located just west of the Dalton Highway and trans-Alaska oil pipeline corridor. The wells will be drilled from ice pads using the Nabors 106AC or an equivalent rig. Great Bear has anticipated starting the drilling in January, with the drilling operations potentially continuing until May.
Multi-year program Great Bear is engaged in a multi-year program to try to produce oil directly from the North Slope’s prolific oil source rocks, using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques, as is done in developing shale oil plays in the Lower 48. In 2012 the company drilled two wells to the east of the Dalton Highway, to the south of Prudhoe Bay. Since that time the company has been assessing the results of analyses of rock samples from those wells and conducting a major North Slope geologic evaluation, to figure out where best to drill next. The company has also been conducting LIDAR and 3-D seismic surveys in its acreage, as precursors to further drilling.
Although Great Bear’s drilling continues to primarily seek oil source rocks, the company has said that its seismic surveys have revealed a number of conventional oil prospects, thus offering the possibility of targeting both conventional and source rock plays during exploration drilling. According to the company’s exploration plan, this winter’s operations may include the drilling of laterals and sidetracks, depending on timing and exploration results.
- ALAN BAILEY
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