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Qannik expansion OK’d, contraction denied
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has partially approved and partially denied a request from ConocoPhillips Alaska for changes in the area included in the Qannik oil pool at the Colville River unit on the west side of the North Slope.
The commission approved a requested vertical extension but denied a request to contract an area on the southeast corner of the pool where ConocoPhillips no longer holds the leases.
AOGCC said in a March 17 order that ConocoPhillips Alaska requested a 56-foot vertical extension of the field and a contraction of acreage which was no longer in the Colville River unit.
The vertical extension is from the top of the K-2 interval at 6,086 feet measured depth to the top of the K-3 interval at 6,030 feet MD in well CRU CD2-11.
The commission said ConocoPhillips requested the vertical expansion of the Qannik oil pool, QOP, “because the K-3 thickens and develops hydrocarbon-bearing, reservoir-quality, sandstone beds within the proposed vertical expansion area” which the company plans to drill and test for productivity.
The commission said the vertical expansion of the QOP “is appropriate because extending the Qannik Oil Pool vertically will facilitate drilling and testing additional reservoir sandstone beds to determine producibility, facilitating development of the pool.”
Aerial contraction denied In requesting contraction of the QOP ConocoPhillips, the working interest owner in the Colville River unit, called the proposed contraction a housekeeping measure which would align the QOP with ConocoPhillips’ lease position. ConocoPhillips said it understood that the commission “prefers the administrative clarity of having pools match lease positions when feasible.” The company said it supported that position for the QOP.
ConocoPhillips said the proposed contraction area consists of leases subject to mandatory contraction from the Colville River unit effective Feb. 15, 2014; it said leases for the contracted lands expired at that time.
The commission said the area requested for aerial contraction has been re-leased and is now part of the Pikka unit.
“Pool boundaries should be based on geological and geophysical properties,” the commission said. “Accordingly, removing the portion of the Qannik Oil Pool that is now outside the CRU boundary would serve no purpose and would not be consistent with AOGCC regulations.”
Split ownership The commission listed owners and landowners in the Colville River unit as: ConocoPhillips, 99.1564%; Petro-Hunt LLC, 0.3483%; XH LLC, 0.2730%; Rosewood Resources Inc., 0.2198%; and William Herbert Hunt Trust Estate, 0.0024%.
In the Pikka unit, which now holds the leases ConocoPhillips wanted to remove from the QOP, ownership is: Repsol E&P USA Inc. 49%; OSA 25.5%; Armstrong Energy LLC 20.3091%; and GMT Exploration Co. LLC 5.1909%.
Landowners, the commission said, are the State of Alaska, Department of Natural resources, and the Arctic Slope Regional Corp.
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