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BP begins pilot production from new Prudhoe Bay satellite field
Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. said Dec. 21 that it has begun pilot production from a new satellite field in the Prudhoe Bay unit. Initial production from the first well was approximately 600 barrels per day of 23 degree API gravity oil from the Schrader Bluff formation.
The company said it expects to establish production from a second well at a comparable rate within a month.
The new production is being processed at existing Prudhoe Bay facilities under a facility sharing agreement. Production from these initial wells will help the companies assess the development potential of this new satellite field, which could contain oil reserves of 100 million barrels.
BP Exploration (Alaska), ARCO Alaska Inc., Chevron, ExxonMobil and Phillips have working interests in the field.
Work from pads S, W BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Ronnie Chappell said that exploration drilling had been from existing Prudhoe Bay gravel pads S and W and from an ice pad. Drilling from the ice pad, he said, failed to discover commercial hydrocarbons. This will be, he said, the first Schrader Bluff production from this accumulation. The new satellite field has not been named.
Chappell said the companies are “doing this pilot production test to assess reservoir quality and production techniques to determine if this part of the Schrader Bluff formation is economic to develop.
“We’ve gathered quite a bit of reservoir data in drilling in the area,” he said, but “felt we needed more.” The “production test results will be used in planning possible delineation drilling and for field development plans.”
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