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Winter exploration wrap: Results out on most North Slope drilling Phillips the operator on all reported wells: three in NPR-A, one in the Colville River unit, two at western edge of Kuparuk, two in Kuparuk uplands to the south Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
Basic data is available for most of this winter’s North Slope winter exploration drilling, which wrapped up in early May when warming weather closed the tundra.
As expected, Phillips Alaska Inc. was the most active — and almost the only — company doing winter exploration this season. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. drilled a National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska exploration well, but final data is not available for Altamura.
Information is available on three winter exploration wells Phillips has plugged and abandoned in the NPR-A.
Hunter A was completed March 20 in section 30 township 9 north range 1 west, Umiat Meridian. The well reached a measured depth of 9,600 feet and a true vertical depth of 9,325 feet.
Mitre 1 was completed April 21 in section 1 T10N-R2E, UM. Measured depth was 8,240 feet; true vertical depth was 8,234 feet.
Lookout 2 was completed May 5 in section 25 of T11N-R2E, UM. Measured depth and true vertical depth were both 8,200 feet. Hunter drilled to southwest The Hunter A is the farthest west Phillips has drilled in the NPR-A, some 28 miles southwest of Nuiqsut, and farther south than any of the 2000 or 2001 NPR-0A wells.
The Mitre and Lookout wells are west of Nuiqsut, in the general area of the announced discovery wells. The 2 Lookout is some two miles northeast of the 1 Lookout discovery well, one of three discovery wells left temporarily suspended in 2001 to allow further evaluation in 2002.
The 1 Mitre is some two miles east-northeast of the Spark discovery wells. The 1A Spark, the sidetrack, tested at 1,550 barrels per day of liquid hydrocarbons and 26.5 million cubic feet per day of gas. Colville River well sidetracked In the Colville River unit Phillips completed a sidetrack to the Nigliq No. 1 drilled last year some six miles west of the Fiord discovery well in the northwest corner of the unit. The original well bore, the 1 Nigliq, was completed last year to a measured depth of 8,040 feet and a true vertical depth of 7,875. The sidetrack, the 1A Nigliq, was permitted last year and drilled this year to a measured depth of 9,820 feet and a TVD of 7,195 feet. Both wells were plugged and abandoned.West and south of Kuparuk On the western edge of the Kuparuk River unit Phillips drilled at the Cirque prospect where predecessor ARCO Alaska drilled in the early 1990s. Cirque is about midway down the western border of the unit, between already developed western Kuparuk prospects Tarn and Meltwater. The 3 Cirque had a measured depth of 6,677 feet and a true vertical depth of 6,096 feet. The 4 Cirque reached only 78 feet.
South of Kuparuk, Phillips has completed two wells: the 1 Grizzly along the Itkillik River and the 1 Heavenly farther east on Arctic Slope Regional Corp. lands.
These prospects are far south of infrastructure. Phillips said almost 40 miles of ice road would be required to reach Grizzly, which is south-southeast of the Kuparuk River unit. Heavenly is east of Grizzly.
Both wells were plugged and abandoned.
The 1 Grizzly had a measured depth of 8,510 feet and a total vertical depth of 7,987 feet. The 1 Heavenly had a measured depth of 9,590 feet and a TVD of 9,372 feet.
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