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BP to operate Sak River exploration well for Alaska Venture Capital Group Onshore ice pad sited for development, should commercial quantities of oil be found; bottomhole location in offshore lease in Sakonowyak River unit By Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. has filed a unit plan of exploration to drill an exploration well, the Sak River No. 1, in the Sakonowyak River exploration unit on the North Slope in the vicinity of Gwydyr Bay.
The surface location will be on onshore in ADL 385193 (a lease owned by BP and Phillips Alaska Inc. which is not in the Sakonowyak River unit) in 1-12N-12E, UM, approximately 23 air miles northwest of Deadhorse and approximately six miles northeast of Prudhoe Bay unit S-pad.
The bottomhole location will be offshore in ADL 377051, a lease in the unit, owned by Kansas-based independent Alaska Venture Capital Group and BP. BP said the well will be directionally drilled to the offshore location and sidetracks may be used to obtain additional subsurface information. The final bottomhole location will be determined through ongoing technical work.
BP told regulators it was applying on behalf of Alaska Venture Capital Group LLC. BP holds approximately 62 percent of the working interest in the Sakonowyak River unit; AVCG holds the remaining 38 percent.
The 11,520-acre unit, formed July 30, contains five offshore and onshore state oil and gas leases. It is at the mouth of the Sakonowyak River in Gwydyr Bay, abutting the western border of the Northstar unit and three miles north of the Prudhoe Bay unit boundary.
Two wells part of unit commitment A commitment to two exploration wells was part of the unit agreement, the first to be completed by May 1, 2003, and the second by May 1, 2004.
BP said that AVCG made the decision to submit applications about a month after the formation of the unit. BP, the unit operator, will operate the exploration well.
BP said that AVCG will fully fund the exploration program. BP will retain a working interest in the prospect after the well is drilled. Drilling is contingent upon securing permits and final funding.
The well will be drilled from an ice pad on state land not in the unit to an offshore bottomhole location in the unit. The ice pad will be approximately 500 feet inland from Gwydyr Bay. A six-mile ice road will be built from Prudhoe Bay unit S pad to the site of the ice pad.
The unit’s five leases encompass all or part of a potentially oil-bearing reservoir in the Kuparuk River formation and the target of the exploration well will be the Kuparuk formation or 8,600 feet true vertical depth.
Non-commercial finds made in the past BP said that several small oil pools in the Kuparuk River, Sag River and Ivishak Sandstone reservoirs have been identified in the Gwydyr Bay area, but no accumulation found to data has been large enough or close enough to existing infrastructure to make development commercial. The Sakonowyak River unit lies directly north of previous Gwydyr Bay exploration areas.
Site selection was made to minimize the number of future exploration or appraisal wells needed prior to development, and if sufficient hydrocarbons are found, BP said the exploration well may be reused as a production well.
“If results from the Sak River No. 1 well are favorable, AVCG, BPXA and partners may propose to follow up with at least one additional season of appraisal drilling before proceeding with development planning,” BP told the state.
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