Spartan 151 jack-up proposed for Sabre

Cook Inlet Energy has applied to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to amend its oil discharge prevention and contingency plan to add use of the Spartan 151 jack-up rig to drill the Sabre exploration well in Trading Bay. The company said the proposed well would be drilled in the summer of 2017 at a location some 3 miles offshore and east of the Trading Bay Production Facility.

Cook Inlet Energy told DEC that the Spartan 151 jack-up was constructed in 1981 and “completely refurbished and upgraded in 2006.” The rig can work in water depths from 12 feet to 150 feet.

Sabre and the Sword prospect are near Cook Inlet Energy’s existing operations at the West McArthur River unit.

The company drilled the 18,475-foot Sword No. 1 well in June 2013 and brought the well online in November of that year. At that time Cook Inlet Energy discussed developing additional intervals in the No. 1 well and perhaps drilling a Sword No. 2 well.

Instead the company turned its attention to the nearby Sabre prospect, which it has described as a six-well development program. So far, the company has not drilled at Sabre, but an administrative change in early 2015 brought both the Sword and Sabre prospects into the West McArthur River unit boundaries.

In a January 2016 plan of development Cook Inlet Energy said it would drill a second Sword well by April 30, 2018, “if appropriate to increase recovery, and if economic conditions warrant.”

- KRISTEN NELSON