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Dual foothills focus for Anadarko Company now looking for both oil and gas in 3.1 million Arctic Slope Regional Corp. exploration license area Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. now has a dual focus on the 3.1 million acres of Arctic Slope Regional Corp. foothills lands where it has an exploration license. Anadarko has had an oil focus in Alaska, Mark Hanley, Anadarko’s Alaska public affairs manager, told PNA Aug. 31. But with the price for natural gas rising and all kinds of studies being done right now around commercializing gas, the company now has a dual focus, he said.
In the foothills, Hanley said, “we were looking for oil. … And we’re still going to continue to look for oil. But everybody’s known for years it’s a gas province.”
Companies which have drilled in the foothills in the past have had gas finds, he said, and estimates of foothills gas reserves have been floated, “but nobody’s ever gone looking for it because there’s so much gas already discovered on the slope.”
With current prices for natural gas, however, and discussions of a gas pipeline, “obviously if there’s some gas resources that we have that we can develop, we’re going to develop those. And, obviously, if we find oil we’re going to continue to do that as well.”
Anadarko also has gas interests in Canada, he said, on properties the company acquired in its merger with Union Pacific Resources and in a recent exploration license round. Evaluation continues The foothills exploration area is a long-term project for Anadarko, Hanley said. “It’s 3 million acres that hasn’t been explored in many, many years. So it takes a little bit longer. We’d love to be able to say this is a great prospect, let’s go drill here next week, but we’re still going through the process.
“We’re getting all the old data. We’re reprocessing old seismic. We’re looking at the old well data. And we have field teams — we’ve had a field team out this summer,” he said.
“We’re doing the work to be able to get in position to drill some wells,” Hanley said.
Bringing AEC Oil & Gas into the foothills is a demonstration that Anadarko is serious about exploration there, he said. “It’s fairly typical to share the risk and share the rewards” and partnership agreements are part of the process in going forward and commercializing properties. Other North Slope prospects In addition to its 3.1 million acre ASRC exploration acreage, Anadarko is a partner with Phillips Alaska Inc. in the Alpine field, and has other state and federal leases on its own and in partnership across the North Slope.
Alpine is slated to come on line later this year.
As for exploration on other North Slope properties, Hanley said: “We don’t have any direct plans right now, but we’ve said all along from the beginning, we’re taking the steps, we’d like to be an operator on the North Slope.” Over time, he said, “I think you’ll see us drilling some wells up there and if we’re successful, then obviously we’d be operating some properties up there.”
Right now, he said, Anadarko is plugging along with its North Slope acreage. Some of these things just take time, he said. The company is in the process of doing the work and looking at the properties.
“Give us a couple more years and hopefully we’ll be punching some wells of our own on the North Slope and getting some things done,” Hanley said. Ready to spud in Cook Inlet In Cook Inlet, however, it’s a different story. Anadarko is operator at the Lone Creek prospect on the west side of Cook Inlet where Anadarko and Phillips found gas in 1998. The companies said that the well flowed 10.6 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from 53 feet of perforations at approximately 2,400 feet. In an October 1998 discovery announcement, Anadarko characterized the find as “one of the best shallow gas tests in the vicinity for a reservoir of this age and type.” The company also said that several other possible gas zones, approximately 180 feet, were encountered during drilling but had not been tested.
Hanley said the company expected to spud the first of two additional wells, the 2 Lone Creek and 3 Lone Creek, in September. The wells are on Tyonek surface, Cook Inlet Region Inc. subsurface. Site access is from the Tyonek Village road system.
Anadarko hopes to complete both wells by the end of the year — logistics and weather permitting, Hanley said. Gas will be sold to Enstar “And that’s an attempt to commercialize that 1998 find and we’re partners 50/50 with Phillips in that,” he said. While Anadarko is the operator in the exploration phase, Phillips will be the operator once the field is producing.
Phillips already has gas in the area — the company operates the Beluga gas field — and already has people there. “It would be a duplication, frankly, to have both companies having two separate setups,” Hanley said.
“They really can absorb management of this within their current infrastructure, so they will be the managers of the field once it’s in operation.”
Hanley said the gas has been sold to Enstar. Only a short pipeline is required to take the gas to existing infrastructure, he said.
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