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Conoco to expand Colville River unit Operator is seeking to close gap between Colville River unit and Greater Mooses Tooth unit in advance of step-out development ERIC LIDJI For Petroleum News
ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. expects to focus entirely on its new CD-5 development as it selects drilling opportunities at the Colville River unit this year and early next year.
But, as has been forecast for many years, the CD-5 project is proving to be a temporary way station on a slow westward drive into the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The company recently asked the state to add three federal leases to the North Slope unit.
The expansion would add 5,085 acres to the southwestern border of the Colville River unit, pressing it right against the eastern boundary of the ConocoPhillips-operated Greater Mooses Tooth unit. With the units directly adjacent, ConocoPhillips would have an easier time extending its step-by-step development at Colville River into the federally managed Greater Mooses Tooth unit, where ConocoPhillips is permitting two developments.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is taking comments through July 5.
CD-5 plans As those nascent plans for Greater Mooses Tooth continue, ConocoPhillips is spending considerable effort behind its CD-5 development, which came online late last year.
For 2016 through the first quarter of 2017, ConocoPhillips plans to drill at least eight wells from the CD-5 pad into the Alpine A sands. The program includes two production wells and six injection wells: CD5-01, CD5-02, CD5-06, CD5-07, CD5-08, CD5-10, CD5-11 and CD5-12. The company is also considering as many eight additional wells - six producers and two injectors - that could be drilled during into either the Alpine A or C sands during the current schedule “as rig optimization/utilization dictates,” the company told state oil and gas officials in a plan of development filed in mid-March.
The company previously drilled some of those wells last year and drilled others over the past year. In its previous plan of development, filed in mid-March 2015, ConocoPhillips proposed drilling 13 wells into the Alpine A sand - six production wells (CD5-03, CD5-04, CD5-05, CD5-09, CD5-10 and CD5-11) and seven injection wells (CD5-01, CD5-02, CD5-06, CD5-07, CD5-08, CD5-12 and CD5-13) through the first quarter of 2016.
According to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, ConocoPhillips was focused exclusively on CD-5 activities over the past year at Colville River, drilling 12 wells from the pad between May 2015 and mid-April 2016. Those wells included nine producers (CD5-03, CD5-04, CD5-05, CD5-09, CD5-10, CD5-11, CD5-21, CD5-315 and the suspended CD5-314 well) and three injectors (CD5-01, CD5-07 and CD5-313).
The CD5-313 well (which ConocoPhillips said is connected with CD5-314) was a horizontal producer into the Nanuq Kuparuk. The CD5-315 well was an associated horizontal injector. (The CD5-313 well is listed as an injector in AOGCC records and a producer in the plan of development and the CD5-315 well is listed as a producer in AOGCC records and an injector in the plan of development.) The CD5-313 well accounted for “the majority of Nanuq Kuparuk production” in December 2015, according to the company. Given those positive results, ConocoPhillips plans to drill the CD5-SUN3 well in the second half of this year. With positive results, the company might drill an additional Nanuq Kuparuk well, CD5-SUN4, between the mid-2016 and early 2017.
Initially, ConocoPhillips planned to drill 15 wells in its first phase of development at the CD-5 pad. But in late April 2016, after reviewing results from the first 10 wells from the pad, the company announced plans to more than double the development to 33 wells.
Remaining pools The Colville River unit has four oil pools and six participating areas: the Alpine participating area and Nanuq Kuparuk participating area in the Alpine pool developed from CD-1, CD-2, CD-4 and CD-5 pads, the Fiord Kuparuk participating area and Fiord Nechelik participating area in the Fiord pool developed mostly from the CD-3 pad, the Nanuq participating area in the Nanuq pool developed mostly from the CD-4 pad, and the Qannik participating area in the Qannik pool developed mostly from the CD-2 pad.
Through 2015, ConocoPhillips had drilled 135 wells into the Alpine participating area and 11 wells into the Nanuq Kuparuk participating area. The Alpine produced 33,300 barrels per day in 2015, down from 33,800 bpd in 2014, and 401.2 million cumulative barrels through 2015. The Nanuq Kuparuk produced 2,300 bpd in 2015, up from 500 bpd in 2014, and 26.3 million cumulative barrels through 2015, according to the company.
Through 2015, ConocoPhillips had drilled five wells into the Fiord Kuparuk participating area and 23 wells into the Fiord Nechelik participating area. The Fiord Kuparuk produced 1,100 bpd in 2015, down from 1,400 bpd in 2014, and 13 million cumulative barrels through 2015. The Fiord Nechelik produced 10,600 bpd in 2015, down from 12,100 bpd in 2014, and 50 million cumulative barrels through 2015, according to the company.
Through 2015, ConocoPhillips had drilled nine wells into the Nanuq participating area (not counting one well drilled on a tract operation). The Nanuq produced 1,600 bpd in 2015, level to 2014 rates, and 3.2 million cumulative barrels through 2015, according to the company. Through 2015, ConocoPhillips had drilled nine wells into the Qannik participating area. The Qannik produced 1,600 bpd in 2015, down from 1,700 bpd in 2014, and 5.5 million cumulative barrels through 2015, according to the company.
Marketing and access In response to a request from the Walker administration for companies to include information about marketing and facility access in plans of development, ConocoPhillips declined to answer the former, saying, “ConocoPhillips Alaska as unit operator is not involved in marketing of hydrocarbons from the unit. Each individual lessee markets its own hydrocarbons and, due to competition and anti-trust concerns, the unit operator does not solicit, accept or receive proprietary marketing information from lessees.”
Regarding facility access, ConocoPhillips said it had a system in place to manage requests from third parties seeking to use Colville River unit infrastructure. While the company said it has entered into agreements in the past, none are currently in place and none are pending, although the company expects some requests in the future. “One request has been received to tie-in and use the CRU’s seawater pipeline system; however, the timing for potential completion of such an agreement has been delayed due to deferrals in the third party’s planned activities,” according to ConocoPhillips.
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