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State okays small Milne expansion BP expands Schrader participating area at S pad Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas has approved an expansion at the Milne Point unit on the North Slope, and a corresponding expansion of the Schrader Bluff participating area at Milne Point.
The division said July 17 that the expansion will add approximately 1,280 acres to the southern edge of the Schrader Bluff participating area and approximately 1,360 acres to the southern edge of the Milne Point unit. The western half of ADL 380110 is in the participating area, and BP Exploration (Alaska), the Milne Point unit operator, requested that the rest of the lease be added to the unit and to the participating area.
The additional 80 acres added to the unit were formerly part of the unit before an automatic contraction in November 2001. The state said BP requested the 80-acre expansion so that the road and pipeline to K pad can continue to be administered under the Milne Point unit plan of operations.
The division approved both expansions, effective April 1.
BP applied for the expansions in March and in April the division gave BP approval to begin production and injection on a tract basis while the division reviewed and processed the expansion application.
The state said that geologic evidence supports expansion of the participating area to develop the Schrader Bluff reservoirs within the Milne Point unit under a unified plan of development. Production from the expansion began in April from the MPU S-01 and the state said the well currently averages approximately 454 barrels of oil per day. The MPU S-04 began production in May and currently produces an average of 2,282 bopd.
Schrader development at S pad The Schrader Bluff formation is part of the larger shallow oil sands that include the Ugnu and West Sak sands of the Kuparuk River unit and the Schrader Bluff formation within the Prudhoe Bay and Milne Point units.
The state said BP has economically developed the Milne Point S pad area “by concentrating their engineering and technical efforts on portions of the Schrader Bluff shallow oil accumulation with common reservoir properties.”
Among BP’s technical efforts are extended reach multilateral wells, slotted liner completions and downhole jet pumps.
BP brought S pad on line Sept. 1, 2002. The company originally planned to develop only OA and OB sands because they are thicker and more consolidated and have higher API gravity oil (20-21 degrees API), but BP encountered thick overlying N sands in the western part of the S pad area, the state said, and is currently planning to develop this area for N sand reserves, along with OA and OB sands.
The state said BP has drilled two producing wells with laterals in the expansion area, MPU S-01 and MPU S-04, and one injector, MSP-09.
BP’s revised plan of development calls for one producer-injector pattern and an additional producer in the expansion area.
The state said that depending upon the location of the oil-water contact, BP may drill a second pattern to increase ultimate recovery of the reserves.
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