Furie prepares to drill, jack-up back on location in Cook Inlet

Sporting a new paint job, the Spartan 151 jack-up rig is back on location in Cook Inlet for the re-entry of an oil and gas well it began drilling last year in Furie Operating Alaska LLC’s Kitchen Lights unit, after being dry-docked for the winter at Port Graham on the Kenai Peninsula.

Prior to suspending drilling operations on Oct. 28, the KLU 1 well reached a depth of 8,805 feet, and Furie announced a gas discovery.

Four tugs, from Foss and Crowley, assisted in securing the jack-up to the seafloor, Furie said, managing to position it within 1.5 feet of its original location.

After the rigs legs were pinned to the seafloor on April 24, Furie drilled a geotechnical bore hole at KLU 1. Another bore hole will be drilled at the KLU 2 well, which Furie plans to drill this summer, once it has finished with KLU 1.

“The data obtained from the bore holes will be used for engineering permanent production facilities, as anticipated in the recent Unit Plan of Exploration,” Furie told the Division in an April 9 letter

In addition to the gas Furie has already found at KLU 1, there is a good possibility of finding further significant gas, deeper in the well, Furie President Damon Kade told legislators in March.

And the West Foreland formation, towards the bottom of the Tertiary sequence, at a depth of about 15,500 feet, may contain oil — the casing that Furie will install in its wells will be suitable for both gas and oil production, Kade said.

Furie was formerly known as Escopeta Oil Co.

—Kay Cashman