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Moving forward on ANWR Murkowski proceeds with plans to drill test well offshore 1002 area Kay Cashman Petroleum News Publisher & Managing Editor
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski is following through with plans to get a stratigraphic test well drilled in the eastern Beaufort Sea offshore the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 area.
As Petroleum News went to press Oct. 23, the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas was reviewing two bids from companies responding to an RFP that asked for proposals to assist the division in completing preliminary plans for an ANWR stratigraphic well project — and to help the division solicit commitments from individuals or organizations willing to participate in a consortium to drill the well.
The state said the planning project is expected to cost $50,000.
According to the RFP, the Murkowski administration is looking at well locations on unleased state submerged lands approximately 30 miles southeast of Kaktovik, Alaska, “between the state’s three-mile limit and the coastal boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The area of interest is offshore of the Angun oil seep near Angun Point.”
The well is expected to be drilled during the winter of 2004-05. On state lands can target oil A consortium drilling a stratigraphic well on state lands in Alaska is not required to drill off-structure, as would be the case if it were drilling on federal lands. Meaning the consortium can target, and hit, oil.
Common in frontier areas, stratigraphic test wells are generally designed to provide geologic data about an area, such as defining the nature of petroleum systems, identifying source rock potential and assessing reservoir quality, etc.
The division held open meetings on Aug. 12 and 19 to talk about the project with interested parties.
Initially, the state attempted to expedite the project by soliciting proposals to conduct a partial site-clearance survey this fall, but “deteriorating field conditions and uncertainties about a well location” would have resulted in “costly inefficiencies” so the survey was not conducted, the RFP said.
Although several oil and gas operators active in Alaska expressed interest in the stratigraphic test well project, the RFP said they were unable to commit immediately because of budget lead times.
There was also insufficient time to form a drilling group, select an operator, develop an operational plan and cost estimate and accomplish the preliminary site-clearance survey on the accelerated schedule initially proposed by the division. Open up the eastern Beaufort A test well drilled in the eastern Beaufort offshore ANWR could provide valuable information about the geologic potential of both the coastal plain and eastern Beaufort waters — neither of which is currently offered by the state or feds for oil and gas leasing, Alaska Division of Oil and Gas Director Mark Myers told Petroleum News Aug. 12.
“This is an area that has been under-evaluated and this … (test) well could provide the data, the catalyst for more frontier exploration,” he said.
The state is, “at present, entitled to 90 percent of the royalties that might result from any production from within the ANWR and to 27 percent of royalties paid to the federal government for production from the outer continental shelf” offshore Alaska,” the RFP said. Testing eastern and southern 1002 area Another objective of the test well would be to assess the petroleum potential of an untested geologic section in the eastern and southern portions of the ANWR 1002 area, which the state said is thought to be prospective.
A test well could also determine the gas potential of the region, as well as the oil potential, Myers said.
Depending on the water depth at the selected site, a well could be drilled in three different ways, he said: using the SDC, a drillship owned by Seatankers and used last year by EnCana to drill the Beaufort Sea McCovey prospect; using a bottom-founded barge with a drilling rig on it, or; from an ice island.
The well would be subject to normal permitting requirements, Myers said.
The RFP makes a point of saying the company that is selected to help with stratigraphic well planning might be positioned to also operate the well, but the award for planning is not an endorsement by the state to operate the well.
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