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MMS OKs McCovey exploration plan
Kristen Nelson
The U.S. Minerals Management Service has approved AEC Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.’s plan to explore the McCovey prospect in the Beaufort Sea. AEC, a subsidiary of Alberta Energy Co. Ltd., plans to drill from the steel drilling caisson — SDC — during the 2002-2003 winter season.
If drilling results are successful, AEC said in its exploration plan, it may keep the SDC on location for further exploration and delineation drilling in subsequent seasons.
MMS said March 4 that the exploration plan was approved Feb. 28. The McCovey unit includes three federal and four state of Alaska leases in the central Beaufort Sea about five miles northeast of Reindeer Island and 12 miles east of the Northstar field. Phillips Alaska Inc. and Chevron are partners in the AEC-operated unit. Single well could be sidetracked AEC said in its exploration plan that a single exploration well, the AEC McCovey No. 1, will be drilled from a surface location in federal OCS lease block Y-1577 to a bottom hole location to the northwest in OCS lease block Y-1578.
AEC said additional exploration or delineation drilling may be considered during the 2002-2003 drilling season, depending on the outcome of the No. 1 well.
“If this initial well shows potential for hydrocarbon development, the original hole may be plugged back and sidetracked to a different bottomhole location,” AEC said. The sidetrack, McCovey 1A, would be on OCS lease block Y-1577, just southwest of the surface location.
If the AEC McCovey No. 1 is a dry hole, the well would be plugged and abandoned.
If results at the No. 1 well require additional testing during another drilling season, the well would be plugged in a suspended state. If there are favorable results from the drilling program, the potential exists, AEC said, for future exploration and delineation drilling in subsequent years within the McCovey unit.
AEC said the No. 1 well is expected to have a measured depth of 14,400 feet and a true vertical depth of 13,000 feet. SDC cold stacked The SDC was last used on the Cabot project in the Beaufort Sea in 1991; it is cold stacked at Port Clarence offshore from Teller on the Seward Peninsula. Work will begin on the SDC in May and is expected to take about two months. The SDC will be towed to the McCovey site in late July and early August. Necessary supplying will then be done from West Dock at Prudhoe Bay. Fuel will be barged from the Hay River Refinery via the Mackenzie River in the Canadian Beaufort.Structural casing While supplying and fueling is taking place, 30-inch structural casing will be driven into the seafloor using a drive hammer, allowing the drive hammer to be back hauled on one of the supply barges and the diverter installed on the casing in preparation for spudding the well immediately after the bowhead whale migration.
The target for completion of mobilization activities is Aug. 15; if that is not possible, AEC said, activities between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1 “would occur pursuant to a Conflict Avoidance Agreement with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission.”
Any mobilization activities required in the first week of September, AEC said, “would be uniquely authorized by the AEWC pursuant to a CAA.” “Go quiet” mode After mobilization, the SDC will be placed in a cold stack “go quiet” mode. AEC said that Native subsistence whaling, which traditionally occurs from early September through early October, is not expected to be impacted by the rig at McCovey since it will be in cold stack “go quiet” mode and will not be generating noise.
Warm-up operations will begin in late October.
Drilling at the well will not penetrate below intermediate casing prior to development of full ice coverage. AEC said this may occur as early as mid-November. Drilling will be followed by reservoir-formation testing. If results are favorable, the first sidetrack would be drilled, followed by two weeks of testing.
The well(s) will be plugged and abandoned or suspended prior to March 15.
The SDC will then be placed in cold stack “go quiet” mode.
Timing of demobilization will be based on testing results. If results are favorable, AEC said the SDC may remain on location in cold stack for an additional drilling program in the following season(s).
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