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Aurora begins gas production from its NCU 1-2-9 facility Company also has test results from recompletion of Mobil Moquawkie well, plans facilities work at that field in first quarter Petroleum News
Aurora Gas LLC has begun production from its newest facility, NCU 1-2-9, at the south end of the Nicolai Creek unit on the west side of Cook Inlet.
The company said Dec. 16 that initial production was approximately 4 million cubic feet per day. The gas is being delivered into the Marathon-operated Cook Inlet Gas Gathering System for sales to Unocal. After initial production of 4 million cubic feet per day, Aurora said it increased production to 10 million cubic feet per day “without difficulty and intends to produce at that level unless market conditions dictate any reductions.”
The NCU 1-2-9 facility dehydrates and compresses gas from three wells, Nicolai Creek unit No. 1B and 2, recompletions which Aurora completed in 2002, and the Nicolai Creek unit No. 9, a new well which Aurora drilled in 2003.
Aurora said recent four-point tests of the wells produced the following results: 1.4 million cubic feet per day at 1,340 psi from the No. 1B; 7.4 million cubic feet per day at 775 psi from the No. 2; and 5.4 million cubic feet per day at 580 psi from the No. 9.
Aurora laid approximately 1.7 miles of new pipeline to connect the NCU 1-2-9 facility to the existing Nicolai Creek unit with the Cook Inlet Gas Gathering System.
Ed Jones, Aurora’s executive vice president of engineering and operations, said in a statement that the company is pleased with rates from the wells, and said the NCU 1-2-9 facility is performing well over a wide range of production rates. Mobil Moquawkie recompletion tests at 7.6 million cubic feet a day Aurora also said it has successfully recompleted the Mobil Moquawkie No. 1 in the previously idled Moquawkie gas field, also on the west side of Cook Inlet. The Moquawkie well tested sustained production of 7.6 million cubic feet a day on a 40/64 inch choke with 860 psi of back pressure.
“This is what it’s all about for Aurora,” Aurora President Scott Pfoff said in the company’s Dec. 16 statement.
“This company is built on the belief that tremendous amounts of economically recoverable shallow gas reserves exist on Cook Inlet’s west side, much of which has already been discovered but is in need of development,” he said. Pfoff said Aurora will begin work on pipeline and facilities work to tie the Moquawkie field into infrastructure. A 4.4 mile gathering line will tie the Moquawkie field to a newly constructed interconnection with the Cook Inlet Gas Gathering System.
First production from Moquawkie is expected in the second quarter of 2004.
Pfoff said the company plans to drill or re-enter at least five wells next year, and is prioritizing well work candidates. The company plans a seismic program in the first quarter of 2004, pipeline and facility work in both the first and second quarters, and another round of re-entry and recompletion work in the second and third quarters.
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