Armstrong permits Pikka project

The state is taking comments on the proposed Pikka exploration program.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is taking comments through Nov. 23 on a plan from Armstrong Energy LLC to drill a well and as many as two sidetracks this coming winter on leases near the village of Nuiqsut in the central North Slope.

Using the Mustang Pad at the Southern Miluveach unit as a staging area, the company plans to build a 13.5-mile ice road from existing North Slope transportation infrastructure to a 600-foot by 700-foot ice pad to drill the approximately 9,000-foot Pikka No. 2 well.

According to a permitting application, Armstrong is planning to use Doyon rig 14 or Doyon rig 16 (or a similar rig) drill the Pikka No. 2 well on ADL 392975, the Pikka No. 2A sidetrack on ADL 393028 and the Pikka No. 2B sidetrack on ADL 393027.

Construction would begin this winter, with drilling, well stimulation and fracturing and flow testing occurring early next year and cleanup following in the spring and summer.

Armstrong is returning to the Pikka region this winter to collect more subsurface information in support of a planned development of the Nanushuk formation in the region.

- ERIC LIDJI