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Kasilof POE includes field development Marathon plans to be producing gas from 2004 Kasilof discovery by 2006; 4.5-mile pipeline, production facilities needed Alan Bailey Petroleum News Staff Writer
Marathon Oil Co. plans to have its Kasilof unit in production by the end of next year.
The company filed its second plan of exploration for the Kasilof unit, for the period Oct. 26, 2005, through Dec. 31, 2007, in August. The plan, filed with Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas in August, says Marathon will install production facilities for the Kasilof No. 1-rd well and construct a lateral pipeline to the Kenai-Kachemak pipeline.
Marathon told the state it will have the production facilities installed and the pipeline constructed, and will begin production from the Kasilof No. 1-rd on or before Dec. 31, 2006, or the unit will be terminated. 4.5 miles of pipeline needed In July John Barnes, Marathon’s Alaska business unit leader, told Petroleum News that the lateral pipeline would be 4.5 miles long.
Marathon discovered gas in the Tyonek formation at Kasilof two miles offshore on the west side of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula in early 2004. The discovery involved drilling a 17,000-foot extended reach dual-lateral well, from onshore.
“That’s probably the most ambitious well we’ve drilled in several years,” Barnes said in November 2004.
Although the Kasilof No. 1-rd well is going into production, the lateral well, the Kasilof South No. 1-L1, did not test successfully according to the plan of exploration. Seismic also required The plan of exploration says that if field production goes ahead at the end of 2006 Marathon will gather 3-D seismic data in the unit. By the end of 2007 “any lands not within the area of such (seismic) program, that is, no seismic acquired, will contract out of the unit.” If the company does not gather the 3-D data the division “in its sole discretion” will determine a revised unit area, based on “the then currently available information and the proposed further unit exploration, delineation or production activities.”
If Marathon meets its production and seismic commitments the duration of the plan of exploration may be extended by another year to accommodate time for further drilling in the unit. That drilling may result in further changes to the unit boundary.
Marathon will need to file a third plan of exploration at least 60 days before the expiration of the second plan.
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