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Amaroq applies for Nicolai Creek injection
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Amaroq Resources LLC has applied to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for a disposal injection order for disposal of produced water and other Class II eligible waste fluids from the Nicolai Creek unit in the Tyonek formation in the NCU.
The commission has scheduled a public hearing on the application for Dec. 12 at 10 a.m. at its Anchorage offices at 333 W. 7th Ave.
G. Scott Pfoff, president of Amaroq Resources, applied for the disposal into the NCU 1B well on Oct. 29.
In its application the company said the NCU 1B well is a depleted gas well directionally drilled to state of Alaska lease ADL 17585, an offshore lease in Trading Bay, 100% owned by Amaroq Resources. The well’s surface location is onshore on ADL 391471. The NCU 1B was drilled in 2002 as a sidetrack to NCU 1A which was a sidetrack of the original NCU 1.
The NCU 1B was sidetracked at 2,186 feet and 7-inch casing was set from 3,650 feet measured depth back to the surface.
Amaroq said there are no other lease holders within one quarter mile of the surface location of NCU 1B
Tyonek formation Amaroq said the proposed injection zone is within the Tyonek formation and is present between the measured depths of 2,307 to 2,370 feet as recorded on the logs of the NCU 1B well. Injection is planned for the gross interval from 2,307 feet MD to 2,370 feet MD, with perforations already present at 2,307 to 2,326 feet MD and 2,350 to 2,370 feet MD.
“The lithologies at these depths are primarily sandstones, conglomerates, and siltstones with minor coal beds interbedded with shales above and below the perforated intervals,” the company said.
The zone appears to exhibit good properties for fluid injection on the logs, with a reasonable estimate of porosity within the sands of 24-28%, with permeabilities of 50-100 millidarcies based on equivalent sands some 6,769 feet to the north in the NCU 3 well.
“The proposed disposal zone is depleted along with the other gas producing zones in the NCU 1B well,” the company said, with cumulative gas production as of September 2019 of 581,539 thousand cubic feet from the NCU 1B well.
Disposal from NCU Amaroq said the plan is to dispose of produced water from other NCU wells into the NCU 1B. “Additional solids free fluids for disposal could include workover and completion brines from any other future workover operations which are anticipated to contribute less than 1% of the overall volume of fluids to be injected.”
The company said that at this time it “does not intend to dispose of drilling muds or cuttings or other heavily solids laden fluids in the NCU 1B well nor does it intend to take in Class II wastes from other local operators.”
Amaroq said it has purchased surface injection facilities from the Aspen 1 disposal well and moved that equipment to NCU. “AOGCC field inspection personnel are familiar with this injection facility,” the company said. Maximum anticipated daily injection volume is 364 barrels per day, with average daily volumes estimated to be 100 to 200 bpd.
Amaroq said the zone planned for injection is a depleted gas zone. It’s estimated porosity is 25% its permeability is 50-100 millidarcies. “With these formation properties, the injected produced water fluids will leak off rapidly into the reservoir,” the company said, and since the fluid will be primarily produced water, its very low viscosity “will contribute to rapid leak off.”
NCU 1B Amaroq said the NCU 1B is on the same pad as the NCU 2, 9 and 6 wells. NCU 2 is shut-in; NCU 9 is a completed gas producer; the NCU 6 was plugged and abandoned in 1980.
The company said it believes that the NCU 6 well is secure due to cementing and “will not be a conduit for Class II wastes to reach freshwater sources.”
The NCU 2 well penetrated the proposal disposal zone but it is fault separated in these two wells, while the NCU 9 well is a Beluga formation gas producer and does not penetrate the sands proposed for disposal.
“There are no known water wells or other borings within ¼ mile of the NCU 1B well that could potentially be a conduit to fresh water for injected Class II wastes,” the company said.
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