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Pioneer’s Arctic Fox Rig No. 1 has arrived Independent permits three more Cronus exploration wells; major components for Doyon/Akita JV drilling rig arrive on North Slope Kay Cashman Petroleum News Executive Editor
In anticipation of hitting pay at its North Slope Cronus exploration well this winter Pioneer Natural Resources filed applications in mid-December to drill three more wells in the newly formed Cronus unit which is on State of Alaska leases east of the Colville River and about 30 miles south of the Beaufort Sea.
The three permits are for Cronus 2, 3 and 4 on Alaska oil and gas leases 390037 and 390038.
Pioneer already has a permit for Cronus 1. (See permit locations on the Antigua map in the Dec. 4 issue of Petroleum News in the story titled “Five’s the likely number,” which is about the number of exploration wells planned by industry for this winter’s North Slope drilling season.)
The Dallas-based independent filed a plan of operations with the Division of Oil and Gas in November to drill the Cronus 1 well this winter.
Ken Sheffield, the president of Pioneer’s Alaska subsidiary, said the company has not yet decided which of the four Cronus wells it will drill first.
“If we … (are) fortunate to have success then the permits give us the … flexibility to do some follow up drilling,” he said. Spudding Hailstorm first The primary components of the Arctic Fox No. 1, a new, innovative Arctic rig owned by JV partners Doyon Drilling and Akita Drilling, “have arrived on the North Slope,” Sheffield said. Pioneer plans to use the Arctic Fox for all its North Slope exploratory drilling this winter.
“We anticipate spudding Hailstorm before the end of the year, depending on weather, of course,” Sheffield said. Hailstorm is in the newly formed NE Storms exploration unit south of Prudhoe Bay where Pioneer and ConocoPhillips each have a 50 percent working interest in the leases.
The Cronus unit application was initially filed by ConocoPhillips in August but the company subsequently entered into a farm-in deal with Pioneer, assigned operatorship to Pioneer and also assigned 30 percent of its working interest to AVCG. The leases were originally part of the larger Southeast Delta exploration unit, dissolved in 2003 when ConocoPhillips elected not to drill a Cronus well for reasons unrelated to the prospectivity of the area.
The Cronus target is Albian-aged submarine fan turbidite sands in the Torok formation, correlative to the section in the Nanuk 1 well 16 miles to the northwest.
Access to the Cronus ice pad(s) will be via an ice road (8-10 miles to Cronus 1) that runs west from existing facilities at Kuparuk, Drill Site 2P (Meltwater).
Cronus 2, 3 and 4 well locations are at: section 31, township 9 north, range 6 east, Umiat Meridian; 32-9N-6E, UM; and 33-9N-6E, UM, respectively.
Public comments on the three permits are due no later than Jan. 17; a final determination will be issued by Feb. 6, the division said.
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