DOG approves 3-D survey south of Horseshoe

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas has approved a permit for SAExploration Inc and Kuukpik to conduct a 490-square-mile 3-D seismic survey on the east side of the Colville River, extending south from the location of the Horseshoe well, where Armstrong Energy discovered oil in the Nanushuk formation in 2017. Kuukpik is the Native village corporation for the nearby village of Nuiqsut.

In a March 20 press release 88 Energy Ltd, an active explorer in the area, mentioned that it is aware of “a multi-client 3D seismic acquisition” planned for the same general region.

The permit approval document says that the survey will begin in the winter of 2019 and continue during the winter of 2020. The seismic crew will mobilize from an existing ice pad in the vicinity of Meltwater Drill Site 2P. The document says that particular care will be taken to protect any willow areas encountered during the survey operations. And some ice may need to be thickened to enable heavy equipment to cross rivers.

Surveying will involve the use of rubber-tracked vibrators, operating in groups, to generate seismic signals. Wireless nodal receivers will record the seismic data. The receiver nodes will probably be placed at 110- to 260-foot along lines perpendicular to the lines along which the vibrators will operate. The nodes will be laid out by crews operating on foot and on rubber tracked vehicles and snow machines.

- ALAN BAILEY