Armstrong to drill only Horseshoe

Armstrong Oil and Gas had planned to drill two North Slope wells this winter season - the exploratory Horseshoe well and an appraisal well at its Pikka unit.

Those plans have changed, due to concern from Nuiqsut and Kuukpik Corp. that both Armstrong and ConocoPhillips would be drilling somewhat close to the village of Nuiqsut, Armstrong Vice President Ed Kerr told Petroleum News in a Nov. 11 email.

The Pikka well, Kerr said, was going to be within the Pikka unit expansion area “and somewhat close to the village of Nuiqsut.”

ConocoPhillips’ Putu No. 1 well (see story in Oct. 30 issue of Petroleum News) is also near Nuiqsut. Both an original directional well and a vertical sidetrack are planned, ConocoPhillips said in permitting documents, with work proposed to begin in November and run through March.

“The Putu 1 well will provide additional reservoir information in the area and narrow uncertainty around reservoir description parameters including oil-water contact, sand quality and thickness, and oil viscosity,” the company said in filings with the state. The proposed surface location is on Kuukpik Corp. land, with subsurface lands owned jointly by the state and Arctic Slope Regional Corp.

In a lease plan of operations filed with the state earlier this year Armstrong said it could drill as many as four wells and sidetracks at the Pikka unit this winter. That well had been planned for the southern tip of the unit which is in the central North Slope between the Kuparuk River and Colville River units.

The Horseshoe well is south of Nuiqsut near a bend in the Colville River west of the Kuparuk River Meltwater satellite and would be staged from a pad at Drill Site 2P at Meltwater.

Both ConocoPhillips and Armstrong said they would use Doyon 141 or a similar drilling rig.

Armstrong told the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas in a recently approved plan of operation that it plans to continue interpreting data from recent seismic acquisitions at Pikka, incorporate the data into its reservoir model and conduct further rock physics studies.

Kerr said that because of concerns from Nuiqsut and Kuukpik Armstrong agreed to put off its Pikka well.

“We did this to show our support for working with Kuukpik and the village of Nuiqsut.”

He said Armstrong was able to work out an arrangement with ConocoPhillips “in which we swap well information with them,” with Armstrong providing well information from Horseshoe and ConocoPhillips providing information from their Putu well, which Kerry said “is basically identical to our Pikka well.”

He said in doing this Armstrong hopes to show who it is working with Kuukpik, the Native Village of Nuiqsut, ASRC and the state as well as ConocoPhillips. “It is truly a win-win for all of the parties,” Kerr said.

- KRISTEN NELSON