Oklahoma-based Hewitt Mineral sees Alaska Peninsula potential

Alan Bailey

Ardmore, Okla.-based Hewitt Mineral Corp. made its first foray into the Alaska oil and gas scene when it purchased four leases in the state’s Alaska Peninsula areawide lease sale in October. (See initial story in the Oct. 30 issue of Petroleum News.)

But the company is no newcomer to the U.S. oil industry. According to Hewitt geologist Bryan Stralla several old oil families in Oklahoma founded the company in 1917; the company has remained active in the southern and mid part of Oklahoma and north Texas since that time and has several producing properties in Oklahoma. Company President Jim Dolman is the grandson of one the company founders, Stralla said.

So why come to Alaska?

The company looked at Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas’s information describing the potential of different geologic formations on the peninsula and noted the potential petroleum source rocks in the Mesozoic, Stralla said.

“Geochemistry indicated that a gas seep in the hot springs area near Herendeen Bay was thermogenic in origin,” he said.

The Herendeen Bay gas seep lies quite close to the Hewitt leases.

Using satellite imagery

“We combined that (knowledge of the petroleum potential) with some remote sensing that we had done from satellite imagery, draped over digital elevation models and determined that were several large structures in the area — anticlinal features that we could identify on satellite imagery,” Stralla said.

Stralla described how it is even possible to combine geological maps with the elevation models.

“You can even take published geologic maps and take those maps and drape those over the digital elevation model to give you a better sense of where the various formation contacts are (and) how rigorous the mapping is in a certain area,” Stralla said.

And with state-of-the art computer technology it is possible to undo the folding that has deformed the rock strata, to reconstruct the past configuration of the strata.

“From some of the new structural modeling software we can actually take cross sections that are folded … and we can pull those structures apart,” Stralla said. “… That tests the validity of our (geologic) interpretation.”

Hewitt’s analysis of some of the lease area revealed a major Mesozoic anticline that became the main target of the company’s lease bids.

“We … determined that over our acreage position we did have a sizable anticlinal closure and we thought that it was interesting enough to go ahead and lease,” Stralla said.

And the acreage that Hewitt has leased also straddles the margin between surface Mesozoic rocks and the thick Tertiary sequence of the Bristol Bay basin. A large fault marks the boundary between the two areas — this fault has probably pushed Mesozoic rocks up over Tertiary rocks. So, Stralla sees potential for petroleum plays in the Tertiary as well as in the Mesozoic.

More rigorous evaluation

“Right now the idea would be to follow it up with much more rigorous remote sensing data and more detailed mapping,” Stralla said. “And that would be followed probably by a trip to the field next summer.”

The intent will be to build a complete structural model of the area, with cross-sections of the existing structures and of the geology as it appeared before the rocks became folded and distorted. This type of analysis will enable Hewitt to design a 2D seismic survey.

Stralla expects to come up to Alaska himself for the geological fieldwork and hopes to dovetail his work with efforts undertaken in the area by Alaska’s Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys or another company. But at some point Hewitt will be seeking a partner to help explore and develop its leases.

“Our company is pretty small so we’re going to ultimately be looking for a partner in this venture in some manner but we’re wanting to put some more science into this project first,” Stralla said.

And what about other possibilities in Alaska? Stralla sees a need to mature the Alaska Peninsula initiative first.

“This is an initial venture in Alaska,” Stralla said. “We have not done anything in Alaska previously but we’re really excited to be here and we’ll look at other opportunities as they arise.”