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Oil Patch Insider
Kuukpik Drilling back in action; new rig coming to town If the third time is charmed, then Kuukpik Drilling LLC’s deal to lease drilling rigs from Drillers Technology Corp. will be a long-term association.
Calgary-based Drillers Technology said Jan. 31 that it has signed an “agreement to provide drilling rigs on a contracted lease basis” to Anchorage-based Kuukpik Drilling.
The first rig under the deal, Rig 5, will be going to work for ConocoPhillips Alaska in Cook Inlet. It will re-complete three Tyonek Deep wells as gas producers from the Tyonek platform. (See top page 1 story in the Feb. 2 edition of Petroleum News Alaska.)
In its announcement, Drillers Technology said the multi-well drilling program at Tyonek is set to run through the fall of this year.
Kuukpik Drilling’s general manager, Randy Hicks, said the rig is expected to arrive in Alaska at the end of April and be on the platform in early May.
Randy took Dale Larsen’s place with the company. Dale passed away Oct. 20 at the age of 58.
The agreement with Drillers Technology will be the third such relationship Kuukpik Drilling has entered into, the first being with Pool Alaska Drilling — i.e. Kuukpik/Pool Arctic Alaska J.V. — which operated five North Slope rigs until 1999 when Pool’s parent company was acquired by Nabors Industries.
Kuukpik then struck a new deal with Enserco Energy Service Co. subsidiary H&R Drilling. Strike two: Enserco was bought by Nabors early last year.
Drillers Technology said the alliance with Kuukpik Drilling “is an important business relationship” and is expected to lead to other rigs being brought to Alaska.
The company, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as DLR, says it operates a total of eight rigs and has a ninth rig under construction. JPO’s Rob McWhorter retires after 30 years After 30 years of federal service, finishing up with nine years at the Joint Pipeline Office, Rob McWhorter retired Feb. 3.
Rob left Montana to come to Alaska right before the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. His first assignment was to serve as a public information officer for the Bureau of Land Management in Valdez following the incident.
When Rob went to work for JPO, he started as an information officer, then worked on employee concerns projects, finishing up as the JPO/federal lead for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline right-of-way renewal process.
Rob plans to stay in Alaska and is “evaluating employment opportunities.” BP charging $24.25 per barrel to move oil through Badami pipeline If you’re planning a well on the eastern North Slope and need to ship oil through the Badami pipeline, you’d better take some time to negotiate an affordable tariff rate with BP Transportation (Alaska) Inc.
That’s because BP Transportation is now charging $24.25 a barrel to move oil from the Badami central processing unit to the connection with the Endicott pipeline.
You’ll also need to pay 24 cents (down from 38 cents) to the Endicott Pipeline Co. to get to Pump Station One, then about $6 for transport down the line and tanker fare to the West Coast.
That brings your total transportation bill to a West Coast refinery to right about $30.50 a barrel, not including getting it to the Badami site.
The Badami pipeline is only carrying about 1,400 barrels a day right now, says Daren Beaudo of BP, all of it from 100-percent BP-owned Badami. It was designed to carry in the neighborhood of 30,000 barrels a day, and under regulatory rules, the operators can (understandably) collect costs from shippers as it goes along. Other feeder pipelines on the North Slope generally charge a few cents a barrel to a buck or two.
The Badami rate that went into effect Jan. 1 is a temporary rate for six months, while the Regulatory Commission of Alaska investigates whether the amount is reasonable. It’s a big jump from the $17.54 a barrel collected last year and nearly triple 2001’s $8.34 a barrel.
Rates are expected to fall once the nearby Point Thomson unit comes on line, but in the meantime, there’s something of a Catch-22 situation.
Companies other than BP might well back off from drilling in the area if they’ve got to go through the Badami line. And BP, which does have an incentive to lower per-barrel costs in the line, has sworn off most frontier exploration.
Still, the company is working hard to market some of its eastern North Slope leases, which will likely bring other producers into the region and help fill up the pipeline. ASCG opens Nome office ASCG Inc. has opened a new office in Nome for its “Community Development Services Division,” which provides engineering and architectural services for rural communities in the Bering Straits Region.
ASCG President and CEO John McClellan says the new office will “make it possible for our clients to more actively participate in the development of their projects.”
Ted Meyer, who currently lives in Nome, heads up the office, which is located at 112 Front St. in the old federal building.
Editor’s note: Oil Patch Insider is compiled by Paula Easley, Kay Cashman, and various PNA staff and contributing writers. If you have information of interest, please email [email protected], call 907 245-2297 or fax 907 522-9583.
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