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Caelus on second Smith Bay well; first well reached about 7,000 feet
Caelus Energy has completed one of its Smith Bay exploration wells and is drilling the second of its wells. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has reported that the first well was completed on Feb. 19. And during a March 25 meeting of the Energy Action Coalition Jim Beckham, deputy director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, commented that the company was drilling the second well.
According to the information published by AOGCC the first well was near vertical and was drilled to a vertical depth of 6,943 feet. The surface location of the well was township 17 north, range 9 west of the Umiat meridian. The well has been plugged and abandoned, but there is no information about whether Caelus conducted any testing in the well - the company had characterized the well as a stratigraphic test well and had indicated that it anticipates keeping the drilling results confidential.
Offshore NPR-A Smith Bay is on the Beaufort Sea coast, about 59 miles southeast of Barrow, in state waters offshore the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The drilling is taking place from circular ice pads in an area where water depths are 4 to 6 feet, using the Doyon Arctic Fox drilling rig. An onshore camp connected to the drill sites by an 11-mile ice road is supporting the drilling. To conduct the drilling, Caelus had to stage equipment, including the drilling rig, at Point Lonely, to the east of Smith Bay. The company has also had to construct a snow road to Smith Bay from the central North Slope.
The exploration program, called the Tulimaniq project, is a joint project between Caelus and Nordaq Energy, with Caelus being operator and having a 75 percent interest in the Tulimaniq leases.
The geology of the Smith Bay area, although remote, appears very prospective for oil. There are known oil seeps nearby. And the bay lies close to the westward extension of the Barrow Arch, the major geologic structure associated with the producing oil fields of the central North Slope.
Caelus has commented that, at Smith Bay, it is seeking oil in Brookian turbidites. Turbidites are rocks consisting of sandstone layers and channels, laid down as a consequence of periodic submarine sand flows in ancient marine basins. The Brookian refers to the youngest and shallowest of the major rock sequences under the North Slope.
- ALAN BAILEY
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