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Big North Slope program for Hilcorp Company expects to drill as many as 25 wells and preform many workovers at Milne Point, Duck Island and Northstar Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska LLC is planning a busy year at its North Slope properties.
In addition to another large drilling and maintenance program at the Milne Point unit, the company is ramping up activities at the Duck Island unit and planning Northstar work.
The company saw production increases at all three units last year.
The largest program continues to be at Milne Point, which has received the largest share of investment since Hilcorp acquired a package of North Slop properties from BP.
The local subsidiary of the Texas-based independent expects to drill as many as 18 development wells at the Milne Point unit this year. The drilling program includes as many as four pads and targets all three of the major formations present at the unit.
In addition to the drilling program, the company expects to complete workover projects on as many as 16 existing wells this year. While the proposed drilling program represents an increase of 2016 drilling work, the workover activity would be equal to 2016 levels.
As described in the most recent plan of development, submitted to the Division of Oil and Gas in May, the program would run for one year starting in July 2017. In the course of the year, Hilcorp plans to drill as many as 10 wells at F pad (four producers and five injectors into the Schrader Bluff OA sands and one producer into the Sag River), five wells at L pad (two producers and two injectors into the Schrader Bluff N sands and one producer into the Sag River), two wells at E pad (one producer and one injector into the Schrader Bluff formation) and one well at C pad (an injector into the Kuparuk formation).
Among the major facility projects on the docket for this year is construction of the 44-well Moose Pad, which would target reserves in the western end of the unit.
Hilcorp drilled 10 wells at the Milne Point unit in 2016 and another three wells through the first four months of this year. The recently completed program included five wells at B pad, four wells at J pad, two wells at L pad, one well at K pad and one well at C pad.
The B pad program included the B-28 lateral producer and B-29 later injector into the Schrader ND sand, the B-32 lateral producer and B-33 lateral injector into the Schrader NC sand and the B-34 injector into the Ugnu, part of a recent grind and inject project.
The J pad program included the J-23A and J-24A sidetrack lateral injectors into the Schrader NB sand and the J-27 and J-28 lateral producers into the Schrader NB sand.
The L pad program included the L-47 lateral producer and L-50 lateral injector, both targeting the lower lobe of the Schrader OA sand. The K-44 producer targeting the Kuparuk C/B sands and the C-15A sidetrack producer targeted the Sag River formation.
Hilcorp also performed 16 workover projects in 2016 and another seven in early 2017.
Milne Point produced 19,869 barrels of oil per day in 2016, starting the year at 582,669 barrels per month and finishing at 636,836 barrels per month. The unit produced 7.148 million barrels of oil and 4.943 billion cubic feet of gas in 2016, according to Hilcorp.
Duck Island Although most of its North Slope resources are going toward the Milne Point unit, Hilcorp is in the early stages of efforts to revitalize its other North Slope properties.
The company is planning a seven-well development program at the Duck Island unit in the year starting July 1. The program would include at least one new well and as many as six sidetracks, according to the most recent plan of development. Additional candidates for sidetracking will likely come from currently shut-in wells, according to Hilcorp.
Hilcorp is also planning at least two workover projects in the coming year.
Although the company did not drill any wells or sidetracks last year, it undertook a major Duck Island workover program, which is still underway. The company completed at least 12 workover projects in 2016, expected to complete another 10 project this year through July 1 and had three other projects underway that would last into the second half of 2017.
Individually, many of those workover projects added incremental oil production to the unit. The unit produced 2.7 million barrels of oil and 114 billion cubic feet of gas in 2016, starting the year at 266,585 barrels per month and finishing the year at 257,991 barrels per month. But those figures fail to record the large production increase at the unit, which produced 8,076 barrels per day in 2015 and 8,762 barrels per day in 2016.
Northstar The Northstar unit continues to receive the lowest investment, at the moment.
Hilcorp is not planning to drill any wells or sidetracks at the unit over the coming year, although it is planning three workovers, one at each of the unit’s participating areas. The company is also planning some facility upgrades and some pipeline maintenance.
The company did not drill at Northstar last year, either, but did complete seven workover projects - five at the Northstar participating area and two at the Hooligan participating area. The company also completed some facility upgrades during the previous year.
The Northstar unit produced nearly 3.3 million barrels of oil in 2016, starting the year at 328,806 barrels per month and finishing the year at 313,688 barrels per month. The unit produced 10,478 barrels per day in 2016, up from 10,006 barrels per day in 2015.
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