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Oil Patch Insider
Petroleum News Staff
Prudhoe drilling in 2004 could top 200 wells, help boost production A multi-million dollar, high resolution, 3-D seismic survey under way in and around Deadhorse could lead to 200 new drilling targets for 2004 in the giant Prudhoe Bay unit, a BP Exploration (Alaska) official told Petroleum News in early April. That number, which he said is just an “educated guess at this time” and “will include new wells and sidetracks” is significantly higher than the 10 new wells and 65 sidetracks drilled in the field in 2002 and the 50-75 projected by BP for 2003.
Daren Beaudo, director of public affairs for BP in Anchorage, did not comment on the number of wells that might be drilled in 2004, but did say that the Ivishak Infill Imaging (I3) Seismic Survey “will provide a key tool to extend, prolong and perhaps temporarily expand drilling opportunities within” the Ivishak, the main producing horizon at Prudhoe, and “bring … (the) field through the next decade of drilling.”
When asked if data from the survey would extend, prolong and perhaps temporarily expand Prudhoe production, he said: “Absolutely, that’s why we’re doing it. We believe this program will help us drill less expensive wells, increase our recovery capabilities and help better target new wells because we have better data.”
Acquisition operations for the I3 survey “will replace the 12 and 14 year-old data currently being used to plan wells, and is the first seismic acquisition operation in Prudhoe Bay field since 1996,” Beaudo said.
WesternGeco began surveying for BP on Jan. 17 “on the west side of the field, just south of S-Pad, with current operations near T and F-Pads. This 100-day operation will continue east across the field, covering approximately 180 square miles … concluding in the vicinity of DS-4 and 16,” he said. (See map.)
The survey area, another BP official pointed out, includes Deadhorse and its nearby airport, which he said is of particular interest to BP and where 3-D has not been previously shot.
Located within the Prudhoe Bay field, the town of Deadhorse is named after the construction company that built it to support oil exploration and production in the area. Most of its modular, pre-fab buildings sit on gravel footings, on land that is leased by oilfield contractors from the state of Alaska.
“All the Deadhorse surface leaseholders were contacted for permission to do the survey,” the BP official said. Surveyors moved through the area in early April, headed east.
“The survey is all across the down dip, southern edge of the field from the Kuparuk to the Sag River, but also goes north into the mid-field area,” he said.
BP is checking data as seismic is shot and expects the full “survey to be processed by the end of the summer.”
The current plan of development filed with the state for Prudhoe Bay unit said this about the I3 survey: “The new 3-D data are expected to improve targeting for sidetracks and identify new targets and reduce drilling risks and drilling costs.”
The BP official said the new 2004 drilling will be in addition to the current infield drilling taking place in the western part of the Prudhoe Bay unit.
“We’ve got at least two more years of drilling at Eileen west end where the Borealis and Orion satellites are being drilled. There’s some new Ivishak development in that area, too. … About 12-14 new, grassroots, wells are planned out there this year,” he said. Acreage added to May Foothills lease sale The state of Alaska has added 47,406 acres to the May North Slope Foothills areawide oil and gas lease sale.
The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas said the state recently received title to additional acreage within the North Slope Foothills sale area from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
The 47,406.6 acres are in Township 9 South-Range 11 West, UM; T10S-R5&15W, UM; and T9S-R3W, UM, within sale tracts 1112 thru 1115, 1216, 1217, 1141, 1143, 1144 and 1177.
The Foothills sale area is approximately 7.6 million acres between the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska south of the Umiat Meridian baseline to the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.
A revised regional tract map is available on the division’s website at http://www.dog.dnr.state.ak.us.
Bids for the 2003 Foothills areawide and 2003 Cook Inlet areawide sales will be opened May 7 in Anchorage. Governor wants new town, not camp at Donlin Creek, other mines Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski said he will be meeting with CEOs of the Native regional corporations to “see if we can’t collectively work together to encourage more investment here in Alaska that would employ resident rural Alaskans who are members of the various regional corporations.”
“For example, Donlin Creek, that gold operation: we’re going to create the first new town in Alaska,” he told the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce April 7. “We’re not just going to run a camp out there … we’re going to build a town out there. We’re going to do it right, plan it.”
The economics and grade of the gold at Donlin Creek indicate a 30-year life for the deposit, he said.
“That would provide the jobs in western Alaska that are nonexistent, just like Red Dog provided in northwestern Alaska.” NPR-A nomenclature battle looms The resource potential in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is great, Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski told the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce April 7. But keep in mind, he warned, that development opponents have already taken aim at NPR-A.
“They want to change the name of it,” Murkowski said.
“They want to change the name of it to the western Arctic reserve.”
The goal is to get the word petroleum out of the name, he said, “because the implication is that if it’s a petroleum reserve it ought to be good for petroleum production.” North Slope transportation ownership impacts bidding, says Romack The Anchorage chapter of the International Association for Energy Economics will hear from Taylor Romack at noon on April 15 at the BP Energy Center.
Romack’s presentation examines how ownership of transportation systems on Alaska’s North Slope affects lease-bidding behavior. She examines the difference between transportation costs paid by the owners of the transportation systems vs. non-owners.
Her object is to demonstrate that transportation ownership affects lease-bidding behavior, which explains the small number of producers on the North Slope.
Romack is a senior in economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage and an intern with the Alaska Department of Revenue. Road to Nuiqsut will go toward Brooks Range The proposed 80-mile road to Nuiqsut on Alaska’s North Slope would be “not out to the coast but rather back toward the (Brooks) range,” Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski said in early April.
This is state land, he said, “and we feel we can generate enough money in state lease sales to basically pay for the road” and if oil and gas is found, the royalties would give the state a handsome return on the investment.
News for Oil Patch Insider can be sent to email address [email protected] or call Kay Cashman at 907 245-2297.
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