Colville River expansion approved

The state is expanding the Colville River unit to include three leases.

With an Aug. 22 decision, Division of Oil and Gas Director Corri Feige approved a request from operator ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. to add approximately 5,085 acres from three federally managed leases to the southwest corner of the North Slope unit.

According to the decision, the exploration history of the surrounding area suggests potential for encountering a Kuparuk C sand reservoir in the expansion acreage: “The Division acknowledges that the Kuparuk C sand may be below seismic resolution; however, recent successful drilling and production of the Kuparuk C reservoir sands in the CD5 area as well as CPAI’s continued effort to advance the infrastructure and resources capable of carrying forward the continued development of the expansion acreage, provide the Division the basis to support approval of the requested expansion.”

Later this year and early next year, ConocoPhillips plans to drill two Nanuq-Kuparuk wells from the new CD-5 pad into the expansion acreage, according to recent plans. The expansion includes leases AA 094165, AA 094167 and AA 092675, which makes the Colville River unit contiguous with the Greater Mooses Tooth unit in the federally managed National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. ConocoPhillips is in the early stages of its first development in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit and plans to connect the development back to its existing infrastructure at the Colville River unit. Having the two units “touching” will make it easier to arrange transportation and other logistics in the future.

The decision is effective retroactive to July 1.

- ERIC LIDJI