Drill Starts for Well on Arctic Slope

First well to be spudded in Alaska in the new year is scheduled for start within a week on the Arctic Slope, reports said yesterday.

BP Exploration Co., Alaska Inc., will drill its Iktillik Unit No. 1 on a site about 20 miles east of Umiat, it was reported by an industry official.

The parcel is not among those auctioned by the state Division of Lands Dec. 9, but has been open since 1959, the official said.

Meanwhile, Humble Oil and Refining Co. reported that it was suspending drilling operations on the Moquawkie Indian Reserve near Tyonek.

Drilling has temporarily stopped on Humble’s Tyonek Reserve No. 1 at a depth of 13,600 feet, a spokesman said.

Whether that hole will be reentered or abandoned will be determined later, it was reported.

The well was the only one drilling in the state.

Anchorage Daily News Jan. 6, 1965