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BlueCrest planning three-well program Cosmo startup expected for second quarter; will use existing Hansen well until proposed drilling program is complete ERIC LIDJI For Petroleum News
BlueCrest Alaska Operating LLC is planning a three-well development program at its Cosmopolitan unit, which is expected to begin production sometime early next year.
The local subsidiary of the Texas-based independent is currently in the later stages of launching an oil development at the Cook Inlet field off the coast of Anchor Point.
Under a timeline recently presented to state officials, the company expects to install a 10,000 barrel-per-day onshore processing facility sometime early next year and begin oil production sometime in the second quarter using the existing Hansen No. 1AL1 well.
While those construction activities are occurring locally, BlueCrest has commissioned a drilling rig to use at its existing Hansen Production Facility, north of Anchor Point. If all goes according to plan, BlueCrest would use the rig to drill three additional production wells early next year. All American Oilfield LLC of Kenai would operate the drilling.
Using Hansen well As described in a second plan of development for the unit, submitted to state officials in early October, the initial drilling program would include one single lateral well and two dual lateral wells drilled to offshore targets from the existing onshore drilling pad. One of those proposed wells would likely be called Hansen No. 2. Until those wells are active, BlueCrest said the existing Hansen No. 1AL1 well would be the primary production well.
The company told state officials that it has already secured multi-year drilling permits for 2016 and expects to receive annual permits for the program by the middle of the year.
The Hansen No. 1AL1 well is a 2007 lateral drilled off a 2003 sidetrack of a trunk well drilled in 2001. To improve the stability of flow rates prior to starting production, BlueCrest intends to work over the well soon to install a coiled tubing velocity string.
Following a pilot project from a previous operator, BlueCrest will initially truck crude oil from the onshore production facility to the Tesoro refinery in Kenai, to the north. Any associated natural gas will be used as fuel for the operation or sold into the regional grid, using a short lateral pipeline connecting to an existing Enstar Natural Gas Co. pipeline.
Program ‘tentative’ The company has described its three-well program as “tentative” and said plans could change “due to reservoir modeling, anti-collision, drilling optimization or other issues.”
The results of the first three wells will guide the design of future drilling patterns.
BlueCrest is also planning two disposal wells, only one of which is being permitted at the moment. The company would drill the well after completing the three production wells.
The Cosmopolitan unit is thought to contain economically viable reservoirs of oil and natural gas. While BlueCrest is beginning with an oil development, the company has been considering ways to develop gas from the unit. The company has said it might drill as many as three offshore gas wells in 2016 using the Spartan 151 or another jack-up rig.
That said, those plans are “subject to economic evaluation, rig availability, and confirmation of future state tax regime and credit programs,” according to the company.
If drilled, those offshore wells could later be deepened to target oil accumulations, while perforations into the natural gas formations would be suspended until future construction of a platform.
In addition to the current targets of development, the unit includes some exploration acreage, although BlueCrest isn’t planning exploration drilling for 2016. According to the company, a 3-D seismic program from 2005 “suggests that the southern exploratory blocks potentially have producible hydrocarbon deposits at a deeper depth,” which would require some “additional evaluation” to determine if the deposits are economically viable.
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