|
Milne Schrader Bluff pool rules extended; include Nikaitchuq unit
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has approved a request by Milne Point operator Hilcorp Alaska to expand the area covered by pool rules for the Milne Point Schrader Bluff oil pool, Conservation Order 477, to cover the Schrader Bluff oil pool in the adjacent Nikaitchuq unit, acquired by Hilcorp in late 2024. The Nikaitchuq Schrader Bluff oil pool had been covered by a separate conservation order, CO 639.
In its May 6 decision, the commission said the Milne Point Schrader Bluff oil pool was originally defined in 1990 when Conoco Inc. was the operator. BP Exploration (Alaska) took over at Milne Point in 1994. Hilcorp Alaska, which became a 50% working interest owner and operator at Milne Point in 2014, became the sole owner in 2020.
At Nikaitchuq, the Schrader Bluff oil pool was defined in 2010. It was initially operated by Eni US Operating Co. and acquired by Hilcorp Alaska in 2024.
Expanded oil pool The commission said Hilcorp proposed combining the Schrader Bluff and Nikaitchuq oil pools into a contiguous pool underlying part of the Milne Point unit and all of the Nikaitchuq unit.
AOGCC production data shows all current Nikaitchuq production is from the Schrader Bluff formation. The most recent production data from AOGCC, for March, shows that Schrader Bluff production was 81.09% of Milne Point production, with 18.32% from the Kuparuk River formation and Sag River and Ugnu combined constituting less than 1% of the field’s volume in that month.
Expansion justification AOGCC said Hilcorp provided confidential data including a seismic cross section, annotated with well logs, passing through Nikaitchuq from west to east and Milne Point from northwest to southeast, along with a structure map of the Schrader Bluff OA sand which shows “a continuous oil-water contact that crosses the MPU and NU boundary. Hilcorp has high confidence that this data suggests that the Schrader Bluff forms a common reservoir that lies within both units.”
The commission said Hilcorp’s initial plan is to drill wells from the Raven Pad in Milne Point, crossing into Nikaitchuq.
In its conclusions the commission said the information Hilcorp provided “demonstrates that the SBOP is continuous across the MPU and NU boundary and that combining the NSBOP and the MPU SBOP into one single, contiguous pool is appropriate.”
Under the revised conservation order, CO 477B, the Schrader Bluff oil pool is defined as “the accumulation of hydrocarbons that are common to and correlate with the stratigraphic interval in the Milne Point A-1 well (API No. 50-029-20376-00-00) between the measured depths of 4,174 and 4,800 feet, and the stratigraphic interval in the Kigun No. 1 (API No. 50-629-23239-01-00) between the measured depths of 3,530 and 3,867 feet.”
When it approved Nikaitchuq Schrader Bluff pool rules in 2010, AOGCC defined the oil pool as the accumulation of hydrocarbons correlating to the interval between the measured depths of 3,530 and 3,867 feet in the Kigun No. 1 well southwest of Spy Island.
Along with its approval of revised pool rules, issued May 6, the commission also approved combining the area injection orders for the Schrader Bluff oil pool in the Milne Point and Nikaitchuq fields.
—KRISTEN NELSON
| 