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ConocoPhillips files to drill Cronus exploration well west of Kuparuk Well south of Atlas was part of original SE Delta exploration unit; these leases severed from SE Delta when Phillips didn’t commit to drill Cronus in 2001 Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. has reactivated a 2001 permit application to drill the Cronus exploration well west of Kuparuk. The Cronus is in section 4 of township 8 north, range 6 east, Umiat Meridian, some six miles southwest of the company’s Atlas prospect, where Phillips Alaska Inc. drilled an exploration well and a sidetrack in 2001. Both Cronus and Atlas are Torok formation prospects.
This is one of a group of exploration well projects that ConocoPhillips is looking at on state and private lands west of Kuparuk. The others are Oberon, Placer, Sunrise No. 3 and Titania.
The state Division of Governmental Coordination said Phillips began permitting for this well for drilling during the 2000-2001 season, but due to a problem with a drilling rig would not have been able to drill. DGC issued a consistency determination in March 2001.
DGC said it has resumed the review for this project with a full comment period.
A six-mile ice road would be built to access Cronus, which would be drilled from an ice pad.
Once part of SE Delta The Cronus prospect, along with Atlas, was part of the SE Delta exploration unit approved by the state Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, in 2001. Phillips Alaska Inc. had 100 percent working interest in approximately 31,802 acres. Five of the leases were acquired by Phillips predecessor ARCO Alaska Inc. in 1991 and had an expiration date of March 31, 2001. The unit extended the leases through an initial two-year term.
Phillips drilled at the Atlas prospect in section 11 township 9N range 6E, UM. The Atlas No. 1 was drilled to 7,335 feet measured depth and 7,278 feet total vertical depth and plugged and abandoned. A sidetrack, the Atlas No. 1A, was drilled to 8,454 feet MD and 7,200 feet TVD and plugged and abandoned. Work was completed on the first well Feb. 5, 2001, and on the second well Feb. 27, 2001.
In addition to drilling at Atlas in 2001, the exploration unit agreement called for Phillips to commit to drill the Cronus well by June 1, 2001. If it committed to drill Cronus and then failed to complete the well by June 1, 2002, Phillips would have had to pay a $300,000 penalty to the state for the financial loss to the state of not having the Cronus leases available to offer in the 2002 North Slope areawide lease sale.
Well not drilled in 2002 On May 30, 2001, Phillips advised the state it “will not commit to drill the Cronus well before June 1, 2002” and said it would surrender the Cronus leases, ADL 375070, the south half of ADL 375071 and the south half of ADL 375072, effective June 1, 2001.
Division of Oil and Gas Director Mark Myers told Phillips June 5, 2001, that in addition to the contractions, ADL 375070 expired June 1, 2001, and ADL 389056 and ADL 389161 were contracted out of the unit, although, he said, those two leases would continue for the balance of their primary terms.
The SE Delta exploration unit now contains 10,240 acres.
The Cronus No. 1 exploration well is the same well previously proposed for ADL 389161. ConocoPhillips has requested authorization for early tundra access for ice road and pad construction and has requested DNR’s Division of Mining, Land and Water to issue a five-year land use permit “to allow for operational flexibility and maximum efficiency.”
The company also asked the North Slope Borough for a multiple-year permit and said it would pay the equivalent of annual application fees for the proposed duration of the permit, in this case three years for an ice road development permit.
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