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Hilcorp files 38th plan for Duck Island
Company manages to keep crude oil production relatively flat from the Endicott field east of Prudhoe, which went online in 1987 Kay Cashnan Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska recently filed the 38th plan of development for the North Slope Duck Island unit with Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas.
The plan of development, or POD, will be effective for one-year beginning Feb. 13.
Adjacent to the eastern boundary of the Prudhoe Bay unit, production from Duck Island’s Endicott field comes from three participating areas and one tract operation: the Endicott PA produces from the Kekiktuk reservoir; the Sag Delta North PA and the Sag River reservoir Eider PA both produce from the Ivishak reservoir; the Minke tract operation produces from the Sag River reservoir.
Endicott went online in 1987. Hilcorp has been able to maintain relatively flat production at the mature field since it took over operatorship from BP in 2014. Production had previously been falling year-to-year.
Average daily output from Jan 1. through Sept. 30 was approximately 7,100 barrels of oil per day; whereas during the same period a year ago the unit produced some 7,242 bpd (the oil produced includes some natural gas liquids.)
Hilcorp did not drill any new wells in the Duck Island unit during the 37th POD; nor does it plan to drill any new wells during the 38th POD. Rather, the company is maintaining production largely by doing well work and workovers at existing wells.
37th POD work During the 37th POD Hilcorp has completed to date seven well work projects and expects to do two workovers before the new POD takes effect on Feb. 13.
The company also competed two facility projects during the 37th POD, including continued separation train water removal improvements, adding roughly 20,000 barrels of water production per day capacity in May, and the overhaul of the main gas compressor A-train turbine in September.
Activity under 38th POD During the 38th POD Hilcorp expects to complete well workovers and a facility project to “maintain and increase unit production.”
The company will also continue to evaluate the utility of shut-in wells and their potential to return to service, as well as conduct up to three well workovers. These projects might include return to production, producer to water or gas injection conversions, or water/gas shutoffs.
A key facility project Hilcorp is looking at for the Duck Island unit is the continued optimization of the water separation train.
No major turnaround work is planned.
As far as long-range activities in the unit are concerned, the company will continue to evaluate potential untapped resources.
Connecting the pearls The Endicott field in the Duck Island unit is the first “pearl” on a string of oil fields connected by pipelines from Pump Station 1 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline at Prudhoe Bay east to the border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 area, which is a small strip of land along the coast that Congress sets aside years ago for potential development because of its hydrocarbon-rich geology.
The Badami oil field, which came online in 1998, is the next pearl and has a 22-mile pipeline, or “string,” connecting it to Endicott.
Point Thomson is the next pearl in the string.
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