Preparations underway for Alkaid testing

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Pantheon Resources plc said Feb. 25 that preparations are underway for testing at the company’s Alkaid 1 well on the North Slope.

The well was drilled by Great Bear Petroleum in 2015; it was acquired by Pantheon recently as part of its acquisition of two Great Bear subsidiaries, Great Bear Petroleum Ventures I and II.

Pantheon said the exploration well was drilled as a vertical test well in 2015 but was not flow tested then due to an extreme weather event which caused extensive flooding in the region and to the Dalton Highway.

The Alkaid well was suspended to avoid equipment being stranded at location. Pantheon said all zones had been logged and sidewall cores had been taken at the deepest zones, confirming indications of oil in three major zones, from some 4,000 feet to some 8,100 feet.

“Pantheon plans to production test each of these zones subject to suitable borehole conditions,” the company said.

Construction of an ice road to the location is underway, the company said, and All-American Oilfield Services Rig 111 has been contracted and is estimated to arrive on location the first week of March.

Pressure testing will be done and a cement bond log will be run to determine the condition of the borehole for testing. Pantheon said each of the three zones “has major productive oil field analogues nearby.”

Pantheon said it will hold a 100 percent interest in the production testing operations and a 75 percent interest in the event of a plug and abandon operation, with its joint venture partner Halliburton paying the remaining 25 percent share. While Halliburton will not participate as a working interest owner in the testing, Pantheon said Halliburton has a back-in right which would allow them to buy back into their nominal 25 percent working interest.

“We have worked tirelessly to be in a position to test Alkaid so soon after completion of the Great Bear acquisition last month,” Pantheon Jay Cheatham said. “We hope and expect that Alkaid borehole conditions will allow us to undertake a full evaluation of the oil encountered in the three independent zones.”

- KRISTEN NELSON