|
Anadarko files for unit at Jacob’s Ladder Company tells state it is working on partners for the unit, and if partners are secured, a well would be drilled by June 2007 Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-chief
Anadarko Petroleum has applied to form a unit at its Jacob’s Ladder prospect on the North Slope. The 37,982-acre unit area lies south of existing production on the North Slope, almost due south of the Duck Island unit (Endicott) and southeast of Prudhoe Bay.
Anadarko said in its July 21 application to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources that it holds 100 percent working interest ownership in the 18 state oil and gas leases proposed for inclusion in the unit.
Anadarko told the state it “will endeavor to secure a three-party partnership” for the unit prior to June 1, 2006, and will notify the state of its 2007 exploration program by June 1, 2006.
Anadarko said “if” the working interest owners decide to drill an exploratory well in the unit by June 15, 2006, they would complete operations by June 1, 2007. If the well is not drilled, they would pay the state a cash penalty of $275,000.
Anadarko has one of the largest exploration acreage positions on the North Slope and is a partner in National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska acreage with ConocoPhillips Alaska and Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska; it also is ConocoPhillips’ partner in the producing Alpine field adjacent to NPR-A. BP was once interested in area Anadarko began acquiring acreage in this prospect in 2001. It needs a unit to keep the acreage intact, as the majority of the leases expire this fall.
BP acquired 12 of 18 tracts in the prospect at a 1998 state oil and gas lease sale; those leases expire Oct. 31. Anadarko acquired a 40 percent working interest in the 1998 leases in 2001 and the remaining 60 percent in 2003.
Two of the leases were acquired by a third party in the 1999 North Slope areawide sale and Anadarko acquired those leases, which expire June 30, 2006, in 2001. The remaining four leases were acquired by BP in the state’s 2000 areawide sale and Anadarko acquired 40 percent in 2002 and 60 percent in 2004. These most recent leases expire Nov. 30, 2008.
When Anadarko was looking for a partner in a larger Jacob’s Ladder prospect, some 175,000 acres, in early 2004, the company said there were both Lisburne and Ivishak targets at Jacob’s Ladder. It estimated the Lisburne prospect, said to be a carbonate Pennsylvanian Wahoo formation target, at 20-660 million barrels of oil equivalent and the Ivishak sandstone target at 50-800 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Geological targets for the proposed unit are confidential, but Anadarko said in 2004 that the prospects were on the southern flank of the Barrow Arch, and described the Lisburne play as an “unrecognized play type on the North Slope of Alaska” and compared it to such producing reservoirs as the Yates field in West Texas, the Golden Land field in Mexico and the Vuktyl field in Russia.
| 