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North Slope exploration plans on track
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
With one exception, the five companies looking to drill oil exploration wells this coming winter on and offshore Alaska’s North Slope appear to be on track with regulatory filings and securing key equipment, such as drilling rigs.
The exceptions are Great Bear Petroleum and UltraStar Exploration, which might — emphasis on ‘might’ — postpone drilling, mainly because of rig availability. In Great Bear’s case it would be until spring when drilling rigs are available; for UltraStar it would be the winter of 2013.
Repsol meets with state officials Officials representing Repsol, which is planning to lay 65 miles of ice road and drill 15 wells from five ice pads, met with state Division of Oil and Gas staff for a pre-permitting meeting the week of Aug. 21; a proposed lease plan of operations and permit applications are expected in the next few days.
A company source told Petroleum News that four Nabors rigs and one Doyon rig have been contracted for the winter season and confirmed what Petroleum News previously reported about Repsol’s plans (see “North Slope booms” in the Aug. 14 issue at http://bit.ly/p0UrnH).
He also said a sixth Repsol location might be permitted, but only five pads will be built for the upcoming 2012 winter exploration season.
UltraStar files UltraStar has filed its proposed lease plan of operations and associated permits with state, borough and federal agencies for its Dewline unit’s North Dewline No. 1 well near Point Storkersen.
The Anchorage-based independent, led by managing member Jim Weeks, is within a month of “getting a deal” for the venture capital it needs, Weeks told Petroleum News Sept. 8.
Depending on rig availability and capital, he said, the project could be delayed until 2013, but at this point it doesn’t seem likely.
Near the northern boundary of the BP-operated Prudhoe Bay unit, the Dewline project includes building a 2.2 mile ice road from an existing gravel road to a near-shore 600 foot by 600 foot ice pad.
Linc secures drilling rig Linc Energy, the Australian independent that acquired Cook Inlet basin acreage last year and has already drilled its first well there, is planning to drill a minimum of four wells this winter at the undeveloped Umiat oil field in the Brooks Range Foothills along the southeastern border of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, some 80 miles west of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
Since Petroleum News’ Aug. 14 report, a Linc source said the company has secured Rig 3S from Nabors for the upcoming exploration season.
Brooks Range secures rig Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., or BRPC, has secured a rig from Nabors, Jim Winegarner told Petroleum News Sept. 8. The company will be using Rig 7ES, which has been under a long-term contract with BP in the Prudhoe Bay unit.
Led by BRPC, the joint venture plans to complete and test its North Tarn No. 1A well, which was last winter’s only northern Alaska exploration well.
The North Tarn prospect has since been renamed Mustang and is part of the joint venture’s proposed South Miluveach unit, adjacent to the west side of Kuparuk unit.
Winegarner confirmed BRPC’s plan is to also drill two more wells to delineate Mustang.
Great Bear meets with state Since Petroleum News’ last report, Great Bear Petroleum has had a pre-permitting meeting with division officials.
Great Bear, which holds 500,000 acres of central North Slope acreage that contains three world-class source rocks, had planned to drill up to three vertical wells between October and the end of the year before the start of the winter exploration season.
In the spring, after the off-road winter season drilling has ceased elsewhere on the North Slope, the company was going drill at least one horizontal production sidetrack from each vertical well bore.
Since it would be drilling from existing gravel sites along the Haul Road/Dalton Highway, the company has the luxury of being able to drill year-round.
A Petroleum News source says Great Bear is considering postponing drilling until spring when more rigs will be available, but company President Ed Duncan has reportedly not given up on securing a rig.
This information hasn’t been confirmed by Duncan.
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