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Successful test
Armstrong, Apache, Santos flow test at Sockeye-2 meets expectations
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
On April 24, APA Corp. and its partners Lagniappe Alaska LLC, an Armstrong company, and Oil Search (Alaska) LLC, a subsidiary of Santos Ltd., announced the results of a successful flow test of the Sockeye-2 exploration well on the eastern North Slope.
Apache holds a 50% working interest, operator Lagniappe and partner Santos each hold 25% working interests in the 325,411-acre exploratory block located on state of Alaska lands.
The Sockeye-2 well, located approximately 10 miles from the Badami oil field and its open access pipeline, was successfully drilled to a depth of approximately 10,500 feet and encountered a high-quality Paleocene-aged clastic reservoir with an average porosity of 20%.
The vertical Sockeye-2 was completed in a single 25-foot interval at approximately 9,200 feet true vertical depth.
Bill Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong Oil & Gas, described the Sockeye-2 well as "very old school in its performance, in that there was no stimulation or fracking required. It was completely natural."
The well performed in line with expectations during the 12-day production test, averaging 2,700 barrels of oil per day during the final flow period, without artificial lift.
The results of the flow test indicate significantly higher reservoir quality compared to similar topset discoveries to the west.
Further appraisal drilling will determine the ultimate size of the discovery, but the flow test demonstrates the exceptional productivity of this shallow marine reservoir, APA said in its press release.
"We are excited about the performance from the Sockeye-2 well, which could greatly benefit the state of Alaska and the U.S," Armstrong said in an April 24 interview with Petroleum News. "This discovery significantly extends the prolific Brookian topset play first established with our Pikka discovery in 2013. We have identified analogous anomalies to investigate following on this success."
"The results from the Sockeye-2 flow test are consistent with our expectations, demonstrating a high-quality reservoir, confirming our geologic and geophysical models and de-risking additional prospectivity in the block. We will evaluate the data from the Sockeye-2 well to determine the next steps in our Alaska program," said John J. Christmann, APA Corp. CEO.
Reprocessed 3D seismic. The Sockeye-2 well was "based off of reprocessed 3D seismic. It showed us the same seismic signature that we recognized 94 miles to the west when we discovered the Pikka field. Our new wildcat came in as mapped," Armstrong said.
"We are especially encouraged by the great reservoir rock. Our average permeability is more than 10 times that of Willow, and five times the permeability of the Pikka and Alpine fields," Armstrong said.
"We think it might cover a big area, similar to so many other fields on the North Slope, such as Alpine, Willow, and Pikka. One of the advantages of the North Slope is the lack of structural complexity. It's that quiescence which lends itself to such large fields." he said.
This new reservoir "will be an ideal flood candidate for secondary recovery. The discovery opens up a new portion of the North Slope. It's a 94-mile eastward extension of the Brookian topset play. That sort of expansion to one of the world's best oil plays is a really big deal," Armstrong said.
"We still have to apprise this discovery for size and how we would most likely develop it, but we are really encouraged by what we have seen," he said.
State of Alaska lands Armstrong made a point of repeating that the discovery and the entire Lagniappe block is on state of Alaska lands.
The base royalty on the Lagniappe block is 16.66%.
In the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, or NPR-A, where Willow is located, the royalty is 12.5% but the federal government gets half of that whereas the state of Alaska gets all of the 16.66% royalty from the Lagniappe block.
Unexpected surprise Lagniappe is a Cajun word that loosely translates into "a good unexpected surprise" -- apropos for the Nanushuk play west of Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope, which Armstrong and a partner first drilled and identified as a huge oil reservoir in 2013 (Qugruk 3 well).
The discovery led to the 2-plus billion barrel Pikka oil field, today operated and being developed by Santos.
Since that discovery, the oil industry on the North Slope has been on a tear, drilling at Horseshoe, Putu, Mitquq, Stirrup, Willow and elsewhere.
Now Armstrong is leading the charge to find Pikka-look-alikes east of Prudhoe Bay. All reports say the play concept in Armstrong's Lagniappe's acreage is very similar: Multiple zones, onshore, good gravity oil, reasonably close to infrastructure.
The targeted objectives are slightly younger than what Santos has at Pikka et al but with better reservoir qualities -- porosity and permeability -- even though they are somewhat deeper.
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