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Explorers 2011: NordAq drills for gas on CIRI land Small independent drills prospect in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge west of Swanson River field Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
A new entrant began exploring for natural gas in 2011 on Cook Inlet Region Inc. lands on the Kenai Peninsula.
NordAq Energy of Anchorage drilled the Shadura No. 1 in February on CIRI subsurface in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge northeast of Nikiski.
NordAq president and major shareholder, Bob Warthen, said in a Feb. 5 news release that “NordAq is an early stage company.”
He said the company would “not have been able to establish itself without the encouragement” of CIRI and local companies “and we are particularly grateful for their support.”
Warthen has worked the inlet since 1967, first for Union Oil where he was a regional geologist for 26 years, and then as a consultant.
The Shadura No. 1 targeted historic Cook Inlet gas producing zones in the Upper and Middle Tyonek formation, with the shallower Beluga formation a secondary objective. Total depth was projected at 14,556 feet. Completion data is not currently available from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which reports completion date and depth.
NordAq used Glacier Drilling Rig No. 1 to drill the well from a temporary drill pad.
ANILCA The prospect is west of the Swanson River field; the pad and most of the ice road were on lands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and on subsurface inholdings owned by CIRI.
NordAq has an agreement with CIRI on leases CO61647, CO61648 and CO61649, a combined 10,800 acres of CIRI subsurface estate holdings. Section 1110(b) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act allows for access to CIRI subsurface inholdings within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge for exploration, testing and development of hydrocarbons.
The environmental assessment done for the project said CIRI has entitlements to some 200,000 acres of subsurface estate adjacent to the leases being explored by NordAq under provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and has development rights to oil, gas and coal resources on these lands.
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge lands are within the Cook Inlet hydrocarbon basin, identified in ANILCA as a favorable petroleum geologic province. Refuge lands were classified in the 1950s to identify areas that would not be subject to oil and gas leasing, and since that time leases for the Swanson River, Beaver Creek and Birch Hill oil and gas fields have been issued under the authority of the Minerals Leasing Act of 1920, with 13,252 acres leased and developed.
NordAq also holds some 22,354 acres of State of Alaska oil and gas leases.
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