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CD-4 pad expansion project advances State of Alaska opens 30-day comment period on ConocoPhillips project;19 new wells to access Narwhal, Qannik oil in the Nanushuk Kay Cashman Petroleum News
On Aug. 30, Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas opened the 30-day public comment period on ConocoPhillips Alaska’s July 23 request for approval of an amendment to the Colville River unit plan of operations to move forward with the expansion of Colville Delta No. 4 pad.
The company proposes to place 55,000 cubic yards of clean gravel fill and 3,400 cy of erosion protection onto 5.1 acres of jurisdictional wetlands and 0.4 acres of non-jurisdictional uplands to expand the north, south and east sides of the existing CD-4 pad.
Supporting infrastructure includes 19 new wells, a pipe rack extension, valve shelters, conductors, mouseholes, thermosyphons, vertical support members, a new remote electrical instrumentation module, fuel gas conditioning skid, lighting, on-pad trenching for cable installation, and temporary offices, envirovacs and break shacks. No new permanent buildings are anticipated.
Approximately half the wells will be producers and half injectors.
Upon completion, the larger pad will have the potential for a total of 63 wells.
The purpose of the expansion project is to access the Narwhal and Qannik resources, both in the Nanushuk formation.
The project is expected to start on Jan. 1 and continue until all wells are drilled in about 2035, but construction of supporting ice features will actually start around Nov. 1 and finish at the end of January.
The infrastructure will be utilized until the end of field life, ConocoPhillips said.
Gravel, roads, VSMs Gravel placement will occur over one winter season, with gravel transported from a commercial gravel source to CD-4 using typical Maxi-Haul end-dumps.
No fill will be placed during the migratory bird nesting window of June 1 through July 31.
The permitted Western North Slope Resupply Ice Road will be used to support the project. Other ice, if required, will be permitted with the North Slope Borough separately.
Access to the project area and support for gravel placement will also be via existing Alpine gravel roads. No new permanent roads are anticipated at this time.
The existing airstrip at CD-1 will be used to support this project. No new airstrips are anticipated at this time.
Gravel sources being considered for use include the ASRC Mine Site and Kuparuk Mine Site C.
VSMs will be installed as needed to support various project components. Sizes and method will vary.
Trenching will be done as needed at various places on the existing pad and expansion area to install power and communications.
Project location, land use, water The project area is within the North Slope Borough Resource Development District, the surface land is owed by the Kuukpik Corp. and the mineral rights are owned by the state of Alaska, specifically ADL384211, which is leased to ConocoPhillips.
The project area has been examined in part by previous cultural resource efforts during surveys for proposed exploration drilling and development projects.
ConocoPhillips said it has reviewed the database of Traditional Land Use Inventory, or TLUI, Alaska Heritage Resource Survey site, Native allotments, and cabins used for subsistence purposes and there are no known sites within 500 feet of the CD-4 pad expansion area.
The company said it believes there would be no impact to cultural resources for the project and it will apply for a Certificate of TLUI Clearance.
All activities will be conducted in accordance with federal, state and local regulations, permit stipulations and general concurrence stipulations as appropriate, ConocoPhillips said.
All water sources are or will be permitted with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Water.
Sources that may support this project include, but are not limited to, the Colville River and its channels, ASRC Mine Site gravel pits, Lakes M9603, M9607, B8530, M9608, M9606, L9327, B8531/L9326, M9934, L9325, L9324 and L9323.
Dismantling, removal, restoration At end of field life, ConocoPhillips must fully dismantle, remove and restore all temporary and permanent improvements approved by the plan of operations unless the state of Alaska determines, at the time of rehabilitation, that different rehabilitation measures are necessary to deliver up the land in good order and condition.
A little history ConocoPhillips’ 2018 exploration program included a pair of exploration wells just south of the Colville River unit, near the village of Nuiqsut.
The play has a long and circular history with several names.
ConocoPhillips first asked the state to expand the Colville River unit to include acreage to the south in 2002. The prospect was known at the time as Titania. The state agreed to the Titania expansion but in 2004 contracted the acreage out of the unit after ConocoPhillips failed to meet its drilling commitments.
A joint venture operated by Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. acquired the acreage through a lease sale and began referring to the leases as the Tofkat prospect. The small independent encountered hydrocarbons on the leases in early 2008 with the Tofkat No. 1 well and two related sidetracks and in 2011 formed the Tofkat unit.
The state terminated the unit in late March 2016, after the company missed work commitments. The termination proceedings came as ConocoPhillips was acquiring the acreage. ConocoPhillips asked the state to incorporate it into the Colville River unit.
The state was hesitant to approve the expansion, but eventually agreed to the request, pursuant to bonds, guarantees and conditions.
Under this newest effort, ConocoPhillips began referring to the project as Putu. To meet the initial set of conditions required by the state, ConocoPhillips drilled the Putu No. 2 and Putu No. 2A wells and made a $3 million bonus bid replacement. The company also drilled four appraisal wells - CD4-595PH1, CD4-595, CD4-594PH1 and CD4-594 - beyond its work commitments “to better understand the reservoir and to test the technical feasibility of extended reach drilling at shallow depth,” according to the company.
The next round of commitments required ConocoPhillips to pay $4 million to the state and submit a plan detailing efforts to bring the leases into sustained production.
Based on preliminary testing of its initial Putu exploration wells, the company announced the Narwhal discovery, estimated to contain between 100 million and 350 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Willow and Narwhal are different sediment deposits within the Nanushuk formation, with Willow being older.
ConocoPhillips drilled a follow-up well at Narwhal in the 2019 exploration season. That summer, the company said that the results were “encouraging” enough to justify “an additional unbudgeted horizontal well from an existing Alpine drill site into the Narwhal trend” later in the year. That relatively spontaneous decision, at least by North Slope standards, reflects one of the big strategic opportunities of the prospect. It is close enough to the Colville River unit to utilize existing well pads, bringing down costs and reducing some of the most common logistical complications of off-road winter exploration.
Asked about the additional well, a ConocoPhillips executive said it would be a “long-term test” to better “understand the long-term deliverability.” He added, “We also can drill an offset injection well to this producer from the same drill site. So, we’re going to take the opportunity to do that as well. And that will give us further information on the Narwhal trend. But it’s really driven by encouragement and what we saw in the initial well in the Narwhal, the Putu appraisal well we call that.”
A long-term flow test conducted on the Narwhal exploration well also “exceeded expectations,” according to ConocoPhillips, at a peak rate producing 4,500 barrels of oil per day. This led the company to increase its estimated ultimate recovery figure for the prospect by 150 million to 400 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The company initially envisioned a two-pronged strategy at the Narwhal prospect. It would drill about half the wells horizontally from the existing CD-4 pad in the Colville River unit and the remaining wells from a new CD-8 pad in the southern end of the unit.
Under that proposal, the company initially expected production as early as 2022 from the wells at the CD-4 pad and production from the planned CD-8 pad as early as 2025.
But by late 2020, ConocoPhillips was rethinking its approach. The CD4-594 and CD4-595 appraisal wells had “stretched the limits” of serviceable extended reach drilling at shallow depths. And so the company shifted the project toward CD-8, which would support between 20 and 40 wells, depending on modeling.
All the ConocoPhillips projects at the Colville River unit and in the NPR-A (such as Willow) place additional responsibilities on the Alpine infrastructure. In his Meet Alaska presentation earlier this year, ConocoPhillips Alaska President Erec Isaacson described three projects underway this year to expand the gas-handling capacity and power generation and to add a slug catcher at the Alpine processing facility. The $190 million projects will allow Alpine to handle additional production coming online.
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