Linc mobilizing Umiat drilling rig

Linc Energy Inc. has started mobilizing a drilling rig to the Umiat field.

The Australian independent is using overland travel and a C-130 Hercules aircraft to move the Kuukpik No. 5 rig to the oil field in the foothills of the Brook Range mountains along the Colville River and the border of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The company is planning a four to six well program at Umiat this winter, starting with the Umiat DS No. 1 Class II disposal well scheduled to spud around Jan. 22, 2013.

The program would continue with the Umiat No. 16 and Umiat No. 16H wells, a side-by-side vertical and horizontal test of an interval in the Lower Grandstand formation. The Umiat No. 23 well would test deeper natural gas and oil targets in the Lower Grandstand. If time permits, Linc would drill “one or both” of the Umiat No. 18 and No. 19 wells.

Following the end of drilling, in April, the company is currently planning to cold stack the rig at Umiat through the summer to get a jumpstart on drilling activities in 2013-14.

—Eric Lidji