Repsol well reports become available

Data shed little light on major find from Qugruk drilling but Repsol seeks continued confidentiality for Qugruk No. 7 well

ALAN BAILEY

Petroleum News

Repsol E&P USA Inc.’s reports for three exploration wells that the company drilled on the North Slope in 2014 have become publicly available through the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The wells in question are the Qugruk Nos. 5 and 5A wells, and the Tuttu No. 1 well. Repsol also drilled the Qugruk No. 7 well in 2014, but the company has filed a request to keep the reports for that well secret beyond the normal 24-month term of confidentiality.

The reports from the Qugruk wells shed little light on the massive oil find that Repsol has reported in the area of the Qugruk drilling. A proposed development of the find is currently the subject of an environmental impact statement investigation.

According to Repsol’s completion report for the Qugruk No. 5 well, no production testing was conducted in that well. The well, located in section 24, township 12 north, range 6 east, Umiat Meridian, penetrated the Schrader Bluff, Tuluvak and Nanushuk formations; the HRZ/Pebble shale; and the Alpine and the Nuiqsut formations before bottoming out at a vertical depth of 7,164 feet.

The report for the Qugruk No. 5A, a sidetrack to the No. 5 well, indicates that the 5A well penetrated the Kuparuk C sands and the Kingak shale, in addition to the formations penetrated by the No. 5 well. The 5A well bottomed in the Nuiqsut formation at a vertical depth of 7,010 feet. The report says that a fracking operation and flow test were attempted in the Nuiqsut near the bottom of the well but that the drilling team encountered problems with a downhole valve. Although during a clean-out of the well 5.9 barrels of oil were recovered, a second attempt at a flow test resulted in no fluid return.

According to AOGCC records, Repsol has drilled a total of 13 Qugruk wells and sidetracks, five of which remain confidential because they were drilled after 2014. In 2015 reports for four of the wells, drilled in 2013, became available. Two of these wells tested for oil and gas production: The Qugruk No. 1 flowed oil at a rate of 950 barrels per day from the Nuiqsut formation, and gas at a rate of 264 mcf per day; The Qugruk No. 6 flowed oil at 140 bpd from the Nechelik formation and gas at a rate of 1,692 mcf per day.

Repsol drilled the Tuttu No. 1 well in a completely different prospect in a lease to the south of the Prudhoe Bay unit in section 8, T10N, R11E, UM. The well penetrated the Schrader Bluff formation, the Hue shale, the Seabee formation and the Torok formation before bottoming in the HRZ at a vertical depth of 6,336 feet. There is no report of any flow testing in the well, but Repsol did conduct modular dynamic testing within what appears to be the upper part of the Schrader Bluff formation - that testing indicates the presence of oil and water.