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Producers 2025: Glacier subsidiary CIE posts notable gains
West side Cook Inlet properties West McArthur River and Redoubt see growth thanks to maintenance work.
Eric Lidji for Petroleum News
In the old days, increasing production usually required some increase in drilling. Today, though, technology can sidestep the need for new wells, especially in maturing fields.
Cook Inlet Energy, or CIE, reported double-digit percentage point production increases last year at its West McArthur River and Redoubt units ' without any additional production wells.
Instead, the Alaska-based Glacier Oil & Gas Co. subsidiary implemented a range of technological interventions at the two offshore fields on the west side of Cook Inlet.
The state formed the West McArthur River unit in 1990. Cook Inlet Energy became operator in 2009. The unit currently covers 6,970 acres over parts of three offshore leases and includes eight wells within the Area No. 1 and Sword participating areas. The unit produces from four wells ' WMRU-2B, WMRU-5, WMRU-6 and Sword No. 1.
West McArthur River produced 84.8 million cubic feet of natural gas and 330,776 barrels of oil in 2024, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, up from 55.8 MMcf of gas (up 52 percent) and 230,992 barrels of oil (up 43 percent) in 2023.
Cook Inlet Energy traces these increases to 'optimizing [electric submersible pump] pump frequency, expanding water handling capacity and adding new injection wells.'
WMRU-4D is a Class I disposal well, currently online. The WMRU-1A and WMRU-7A producers have been shut-in since late 2010 and late 2012, respectively, due to failed jet pumps. The WMRU-8 disposal well was taken offline in August 2023 pending work.
The state formed the Redoubt unit in 1997. Cook Inlet Energy became operator in 2009. The unit covers 9,668.5 acres over parts of five offshore leases and has nine wells with the Hemlock participating area.
The unit produces from RU-1A, RU-5B, and RU-7B.
Redoubt produced 52.8 MMcf of gas and 199,523 barrels of oil in 2024, up from 40.9 MMcf of gas (up 29 percent) and 164,203 barrels of oil (up 21 percent) in 2023.
RU-3A and RU-6A are injectors. RU-D1 is a Class I disposal well. The RU-2A and RU-9 producers are offline for downhole issues. RU-4A is suspended for water loading issues.
Following recent deal making, the Smith Bay Company Alaska Inc. and JPD Family Holdings LLC now own Glacier Oil & Gas Co. and its two subsidiaries: Cook Inlet Energy and Savant Alaska.
Cook Inlet Energy operates West McArthur River unit, Redoubt unit and the Kustatan Production Facility.
Savant operates the Badami unit on the eastern North Slope, which is profiled in the North Slope section of The Producers magazine.
Projects The most significant intervention was the Free Water Knock Out (FKWO) project.
FWKO allows Cook Inlet Energy to extract produced water from the three-phase stream at West McArthur River. The company had previously processed produced water from both offshore fields at the Kustatan Production facility and injected waste at Redoubt.
Following a pilot project launched in December 2022 and carried into 2023, the company completed the project in September 2023. Through the project, it has converted the WMRU-4D Class I disposal well and the WMRU-08 at West McArthur River into water disposal wells.
A proposed phased project to increase injections at RU-3A was deferred because 'the well was deemed to have sufficient injectivity in its current condition.'
In addition to improved water handling, other important interventions were 'proactive [electric submersible pump] frequency adjustments' and 'acid stimulation jobs.'
Cook Inlet Energy launched its acid stimulation project in 2022 with work at the WMRU-5, WMRU-6, and RU-2A wells. According to the company, the tests 'proved beneficial to ESP pump performance by eliminating scale buildup from high water cuts and aided in enhancing production from the Hemlock formation' at the West McArthur River unit.
The Redoubt test results were complicated by an unrelated ESP failure. A workover to resolve the issue was abandoned after encountering downhole complications. A special intervention at the well has been on the docket ever since but has yet to be completed.
According to the company, 'the workover is currently prohibitively expensive and could become a viable option if conducted in conjunction with another rig involved operation.'
With the positive results at West McArthur River, Cook Inlet Energy conducted testing at WMRU-2B and the Sword No. 1 wells and replaced failed electric submersible pumps.
In the past year, Cook Inlet Energy resumed acid testing at Redoubt. An assessment of an earlier weak acid stimulation at RU-5B yielded a doubling of stable oil production at the well. A test at RU-1A was inconclusive due to an ESP failure soon after the procedure.
Cook Inlet Energy also replaced a mile-long section of its 8-inch three-phase pipeline at West McArthur River using FlexSteel. While the project was not directly related to increasing production, it represented the first use of the material in the Alaska oil patch.
Exploration projects While these projects have yielded important gains for Cook Inlet Energy, a larger prize potentially awaits if the company is able to conduct new drilling at the units.
In its current plan of development, Cook Inlet Energy is again non-committal about the Sabre prospect at West McArthur River, saying it 'plans to keep its options open' as it works to obtain financing and reduce risk associated with the prospect.
Several former operators attempted to explore the Sabre prospect. Cook Inlet Energy considered a Sabre well as early as late 2013 but ultimately delayed the project due to logistics and costs.
In its current plan of development, Cook Inlet Energy also said it would maintain flexibility at the Northern and South fault blocks of the Redoubt unit while it looked for financing. The company also blamed delays on exploration work at the Badami unit.
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