|
North Nenana exploration license issued State attorney general objects to filing of additional cost items gas utility wants to include in argument for increasing fees Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas issued a written finding April 29 determining that the issuance of an oil and gas exploration license to Rocky Riley of Tolovana Construction Co. is in the best interests of the state.
The exploration license, for North Nenana, is one of two applications that had been shown pending - the other is for the Houston-Willow basin - on the division’s website.
The North Nenana exploration license issued to Riley is a five-year license with a $500,000 work commitment and covers 25,294 acres. The license area is some 35 miles west of Fairbanks, within the Minto Flats State Game Refuge in townships 2-3 north, range 8 west, Fairbanks Meridian.
A map of the license area shows that it is south of Minto.
The division said it received an exploration license application from Riley on April 30, 2013, and on May 30, 2013, published a notice of intent to evaluate the proposal, a request for comments and a request for competing proposals; no competing proposals were received.
Limited potential The division said “potential for oil generation, migration, and trapping in the license area is considered low,” while the potential for coal gas and biogenic gas “is low to moderate,” with primary risks whether the area has “a trapping mechanism and seal capacity.”
The North Nenana exploration license area is on the northern margin of the Nenana basin, the division said. The Nenana basin is considered prospective for hydrocarbons. Union Oil of California and Atlantic Richfield have both drilled, with the most recent activity by Rampart Energy and Doyon Ltd. and their partners.
Union Oil drilled the Nenana No. 1 well to a total measured depth of 3,062 feet in 1962. In 1984, Atlantic Richfield drilled the Totek Hills No. 1 wells to a total measured depth of 3,590 feet. Both wells were drilled along the flanks of the southern Nenana basin and both were plugged and abandoned.
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted petroleum resource assessments of the area in the 1990s and 2000s.
Rampart Energy drilled the Nunivak No. 1 well in a thicker portion of the basin in 2009, some 31 miles south of the southern boundary of the license area. That well reached a total measured depth of 11,136 feet.
“The occurrence of potential source rocks such as coals and lake-deposited sediments can be anticipated in the license area based on outcrop and well samples,” the division said. “In addition, the presence of reservoir rock such as sandstone, conglomerates, and silty sandstones may be anticipated based on outcrop and the three Nenana basin well penetrations that are publicly available.”
| 