Forest thinks Corsair could hold more oil than Redoubt

Company has begun permitting for prospect, but since there are no jack-up rigs in Alaska prospect may not be drilled until next year

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Houston Office

Forest Oil has provided reserve estimates for five oil and gas prospects in the Cook Inlet, including one the company believes could hold more crude than its Redoubt Shoal field, the most significant inlet discovery in years.

But Forest said it must have partners to help pay exploration expenses for Corsair and the other prospects, mainly because of the company's financial commitment to Redoubt development. Forest, which holds a 100 percent interest in Corsair, has said it likes to keep 25 to 50 percent ownership in its prospects.

Pre-drill analysis indicates the offshore Corsair prospect could contain 137 million barrels of oil, 79 million barrels in the Tyonek formation and 58 million barrels in the Hemlock formation, Forest said. Redoubt is thought to contain 100 to 200 million barrels of oil reserves, up to 70 million barrels of which was to be booked in 2002.

However, the 137 million barrel estimate for Corsair is conservative, Forest said. “We believe it could be bigger,” a company spokesman at the North American Prospectors Expo in late January said.

Analysis also indicates that 480 billion cubic feet of natural gas may be locked in Corsair, he said, and perhaps another half-trillion cubic feet of gas and 30 million barrels of oil in the other four prospects: Olsen Creek, Viggen, Tutna and Valkyrie.

With 10,000 acres of subsurface closure, the Corsair prospect “is probably the biggest and least risky” of the five prospects, the company spokesman said.

However, he did confirm that Corsair is geologically related to the troublesome Tyonek Deep prospect, formerly called Sunfish. So, despite Corsair's potential, the area's complicated geology could pose a problem for Forest, said William Van Dyke, petroleum manager for the state Division of Oil and Gas.

“They drilled the wells hoping for a lot of reservoir continuity,” Van Dyke said of Tyonek Deep. “At the end of the day they realized they didn't have continuity.”

Forest said it has begun the permitting process for Corsair, but added that there are no jack-up rigs currently in Alaska to drill any of its prospects. Nevertheless, the company said it hopes to commence drilling operations this summer or in 2004.