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CIE still pursuing west side investment Plans of development for Redoubt unit and West McArthur River unit show limited activity but plans for growth Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
Through its subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy LLC, Miller Energy Resources Inc. started its tenure in Alaska by reviving the Redoubt unit and West McArthur River unit.
With the company having since acquired the North Fork unit in the southern Kenai Peninsula and the North Slope operator Savant Alaska LLC, and with oil prices having dropped considerably and stayed at their lower levels, the company is now dividing its efforts among numerous regions and two commodities: oil and natural gas. But the company is continuing its work at its original properties on the west side of Cook Inlet, according to plans of development filed with state officials at the end of January 2015.
Redoubt unit sidetracks Under its proposed 15th plan of development for the Redoubt unit, Cook Inlet Energy would drill as many as four sidetracks to improve production from various fault blocks.
The plan prioritizes a sidetrack of RU No. 7A. The company would complete the sidetrack with hydraulic fracturing, which executives believe would double or triple recovery rates, according to recent company statements. Given the uncertainty of oil prices and the attractiveness of gas development at North Fork, the company has said it would wait for summer before deciding whether to sanction the sidetrack this year.
The sidetrack will likely be the only well at Redoubt this year, according to the company, and the results will determine whether and how the company proceeds in the near term.
The proposed plan of development calls for drilling as many as two other sidetracks starting April 2017. The RU No. 3A and RU No. 3B sidetracks would target the Central fault block to produce oil in the Hemlock participating area. The company had originally planned to sidetrack the existing RU No. 3 well or RU No. 4A sidetrack (both of which have been depleted) last year but delayed those plans in favor of sidetracking RU No. 7.
The plan also proposes an RU No. 7B sidetrack for the near term.
Cook Inlet Energy has identified two other oil-bearing fault blocks at the unit, although plans for delineating those Northern and Southern blocks are vague and dependent on economics, according to the company, which hopes to start drilling by April 2017.
Work on the Southern block depends on the results of the RU No. 9 well. The company plans to conduct rigged maintenance to change out a pump on the well in the near term.
The company recently described the November 2014 well as a disappointment, saying that it only produced about 100 barrels of oil per day before an electrical failure.
West McArthur River unit At the West McArthur River unit, Cook Inlet Energy also has “determined that sidetracking holds the best opportunity to restore and increase production.”
The company is considering sidetracks of the shut-in WMRU No. 1A and No. 7A sidetracks and is evaluating the producing WMRU No. 8 well as a sidetrack candidate.
The West McArthur River unit also contains two exploration prospects, which Cook Inlet Energy calls Sword and Sabre. The company is still evaluating information from the Sabre No. 1 exploration well and may drill a Sword No. 2 appraisal well in April 2017.
The company said it is “still evaluating” drilling plans at Sabre, although, as an extended reach exploration well, the prospect conflicts with the current strategy of “developing lower risk targets,” according to the company. The company expects to delay any work until after it has finished developing proven prospects and may seek out a partner.
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