Sidebar: 20 years ago: Sandpiper prospect a big draw

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The old Sandpiper prospect, where two wells were drilled in the mid-1980s, was the biggest dollar draw at the Sept. 24, 2003, Minerals Management Service Beaufort Sea lease sale, attracting winning bids of $4 million from ConocoPhillips Alaska, as well as $1.27 million from Armstrong Alaska, in the sale's only competitive bidding.

Shell Western Exploration and Production drilled the Sandpiper No. 1 9 miles northeast of Seal Island (where BP Exploration (Alaska) developed Northstar in the late 1990s), spudding the well in 1985 and completing work in 1986. Shell tested the 12,575-foot well from below 11,910 feet at 500 to 2,500 barrels of 40-52 degree API oil and up to 18.5 million cubic feet per day from two different Sadlerochit formation intervals. Shell had a 31.5% interest in the well. Its partners were Amoco Production (31.5%), Murphy Oil USA (20%), Petrofina Delaware (10%) and Koch Industries (7%).

Shell spud the second well, Sandpiper No. 2, but Amoco later took over as operator. That well was drilled to 14,983 feet, sidetracked three times due to downhole problems, and plugged and abandoned in July 1986.

Both wells were drilled from Sandpiper gravel island in 49 feet of water, and MMS lists both wells as producible. Former leases at the prospects expired in April 2001. The Alaska Department of Revenue said in 2001 that it considered Sandpiper a prospective source of oil production, and estimated production at 12,000 barrels per day by 2008.

BP was the operator until 1999; its partner Murphy Exploration and Production then took over as operator. Murphy told MMS that the most economic development plan would be "to construct a gravel island on Loan Shoal with minimum process facilities." Crude oil would then be piped to BP's Northstar facility for processing. Murphy estimated that Sandpiper would have peak daily production rates of 8,000 barrels of oil and 50 million standard cubic feet of gas and a field life of 24 years. Total recoverable liquid reserves were estimated in the 47 million barrel range.

There was a unit at Sandpiper until 2001.