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Linc postponing Umiat drilling Blames delay on low snow levels on North Slope; continues to move on underground coal gasification in southern Alaska Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
Linc Energy Inc. is postponing its drilling program at the Umiat prospect in northern Alaska this winter because of “logistical and weather issues,” according to the company.
Although previously reported in Petroleum News, the announcement is the first official acknowledgment from the company that its exploration program at the North Slope oil field won’t begin until the winter of 2012 and 2013. In its most recent quarterly report, released Jan. 31, the company blamed the delay on “low snow levels which affected snow road development” in the foothills of the Brooks Range, where drilling was to occur.
Linc “plans to commence an aggressive delineation drilling, well testing and deep exploration program in the 2012-2013 winter season on the Umiat site and has already ordered a drill rig to commence this work. In the meantime, (Linc) is actively engaged in all permitting activities, community and agency consultation, and development of the Project Description and Plan of Development in anticipation of the 2012-2013 drilling season with the goal of having Umiat in production in a timely manner.”
The upper foothills opened for travel in early January.
Five wells planned The Australian independent originally planned to drill up to five wells this winter at Umiat, located on the border of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, and planned to access the area by building a 90-mile snow-packed road starting at Pump Station 2 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, but as of early December had yet to sign a contract for a rig.
The Umiat field, discovered by the U.S. Navy in 1946, is believed to hold about 1 billion barrels of oil in place, but remoteness, low reservoir pressure and permafrost have kept it from being developed. With improved technology, the permafrost and pressure can be managed, and with the state looking into building an all-season road from the Dalton Highway to the Umiat area, the prospect is suddenly looking more realistic than ever.
The 19,358-acre prospect covers four leases — two state and two federal. Linc acquired the prospect from Renaissance Alaska LLC in June 2011 for around $50 million.
UCG work progressing Linc is drilling its first underground coal gasification exploration well in Alaska, the TYEX01 located near the Beluga Power Plant on the west side of Cook Inlet.
The company said it plans to run coring operations continuously for several weeks until reaching a total target depth of more than 3,500 feet. The goal of the program is to learn more about coal seams in the region for further evaluation and commercial development.
Underground coal gasification is a process for generating gas from deep coal deposits, injecting air and water into an ignited coal seam to turn the carbon into methane.
In conjunction with its five-core hole drilling program, Linc is also conducting a UCG seismic survey over its exploration acreage in the Cook Inlet and in the Interior. In addition to 43 line miles of “modern full-coverage” 2-D seismic that the company recently acquired and plans to process and interpret, Linc also plans on shooting 40 line miles of new 2-D seismic using a cable-free nodal seismic system from Fairfield Nodal.
In February 2011, Linc received a UCG exploration license from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office covering 181,414 acres across three areas of the state: in the Tyonek area, in the Interior north of Healy and a large block on the Kenai Peninsula.
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