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Texas independent looks to drill new Cook Inlet leases ARCO Alaska’s Dave Doherty and Mark Landt on the project; both believe Sunfish zone holds promise of commercial oil Kay Cashman PNA Publisher
Three executives from Prodigy Alaska LLC, formerly Saddleback Resources LLC, a new leaseholder in Cook Inlet, were in Alaska in early August to meet state officials and oilfield service contractors about an offshore well the company hopes to drill in the next two years on acreage picked up at the May 9 Cook Inlet areawide sale.
Prodigy Alaska paid $22.18 per acre (a total of $214,775) for five state tracts encompassing 9,683 acres that are adjacent to the southern boundary of the North Cook Inlet gas unit.
Prodigy Alaska, which is owned by Irving, Texas-based Prodigy Oil and Gas LLC (formerly Epic Oil and Gas LLC), hopes to eventually drill three delineation wells on the leases. Fourteen field seasons in Alaska The company recently hired Dave Doherty, a former ARCO Alaska Inc. geologist who spent 14 years in Alaska with ARCO. His title with Prodigy is senior geologist.
Doherty’s job with ARCO was to take a new look at the geology of the Cook Inlet basin. “He spent 14 years studying the area, including 14 field seasons with a helicopter and crews out there,” Prodigy Vice President Lee Higgins told PNA. “The prospect we’re looking at drilling came out of that.”
“Sunfish and North Foreland were my wells,” Doherty said. “I saw an opportunity south of the North Cook Inlet field, but ARCO walked away from it.” Sunfish, now called Tyonek Deep, is a deep oil zone beneath the area.
Prodigy has also hired Mark Landt, formerly district land manager for ARCO Alaska from 1992 to 1997. Landt initially worked as district land manager for Cook Inlet and then switched to the North Slope where he spent four years “working the Colville development from scratch,” he told PNA.
Higgins said Prodigy is still reviewing seismic from its five leases and expects to shoot additional seismic in the area before settling on a drilling location: “We’d like to drill our first well next summer, but that might not be realistic.”
If Prodigy is successful at finding oil, Higgins said the company will have to have its own platform, pipelines and related infrastructure to produce and transport the crude because the North Cook Inlet field, operated by Phillips, is a gas producing field.
Higgins said the company expects to open an office in Alaska after its leases are in production. Nineteen limited partnerships Prodigy Oil and Gas, the sole member-manager of Prodigy Alaska, both limited liability corporations, was formed earlier this year. It has 16 employees.
Prodigy’s predecessor, Epic Oil and Gas Inc., is the managing partner for 19 limited partnerships created since 1998 for oil and gas drilling prospects in south Texas.
The move into Alaska represents “a time of change for Epic,” Higgins said. “The name change is part of our new look. … We have a new name, a new business structure and are developing a web site. …
“We have no operations in our south Texas gas plays. … We’re moving into operations and also moving into Alaska. We see a lot of opportunities for growth here,” Higgins said.
Dallas financier Shawn Bartholomae is Prodigy’s president and chief executive officer and sole owner of the company. He is identified in its literature for investors as “prominent in identifying and marketing high quality oil and gas prospects since 1988.”
Prodigy literature said Bartholomae is “dedicated to providing his investors the opportunity to be involved in truly viable prospects which have exceptional possibilities for strong returns. In his ongoing effort to offer the strongest possible lay, he has formed a team with a superlative combination of acumen and experience.
“We truly believe that this play (Cook Inlet) affords a superior opportunity to a elect group of partners who will join us in profiting from Alaskan oil and gas,” Prodigy said.
Editor’s note: Epic Oil and Gas is not connected in any way to Epic Oil and Gas Ltd. Of Canada or its U.S. affiliates.
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