Alkaid No. 1 well file goes public

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissions has released the public well file for the Alkaid No. 1 well that Great Bear Petroleum Operating LLC drilled in early 2015.

Great Bear drilled the 8,595-foot nearly vertical exploration well in the central North Slope south of the Prudhoe Bay unit, along the trans-Alaska oil pipeline corridor.

The Alkaid well was part of a larger effort to assess the potential for developing unconventional oil accumulations on the North Slope. But the well was also crucial in convincing Great Bear to expand its efforts to include conventional prospects, as a way to develop infrastructure in the near term to support longer term work throughout the area.

The Alkaid No. 1 well file can be found at the AOGCC’s “Well File Images Database” - available at http://doa.alaska.gov/ogc/publicdb.html - with the well number 214-208.

Except in cases when the state grants extended confidentiality, files from oil and natural gas wells drilled in Alaska automatically become public two years after completion.

- ERIC LIDJI