Nikaitchuq tests at 960 bpd

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News editor-in-chief

Kerr-McGee Corp.’s Nikaitchuq No. 1 exploration well at the Northwest Milne prospect tested 960 barrels per day of 38 degrees American Petroleum Institute crude oil.

The company said in March that it encountered “high-quality hydrocarbons” at the Nikaitchuq No. 1, and was drilling the No. 2, expected to test the down-dip limit of the reservoir.

Oklahoma City, Okla.-based Kerr-McGee said April 19 that the Nikaitchuq No. 1 vertical well “production tested more than 960 barrels per day of 38 degree API crude” from the Sag River formation. It also said that if the prospect is developed “horizontal wells would most likely be utilized, which would be expected to produce at higher flow rates than the vertical well.”

The company said the Nikaitchuq No. 2 was drilled 9,000 feet southwest of the No. 1 well, “and successfully extended the accumulation down dip.” Kerr-McGee spokeswoman Debbie Schramm told Petroleum News April 19 that the rig is off the ice at the Northwest Milne prospect. She also said that the company did not test the No. 2 well.

The company said it is evaluating the data collected and re-calibrating 3-D seismic of the area “to define appraisal drilling plans for the upcoming winter drilling season.”

The Northwest Milne Point prospect is operated by Kerr-McGee, which holds a 70 percent interest in 12,000 acres, with an option to acquire an additional 54,000 acres.

Denver, Colo.-based Armstrong Alaska, which holds the remaining 30 percent interest, assembled the Northwest Milne prospect and brought in Kerr-McGee as operator and majority partner.

The wells are in the Spy Island area in shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope, and were drilled from ice with a land drilling rig, requiring about four miles of ice road from the existing North Slope road system at Oliktok Point.