Eni US Operating Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Italian multinational Eni S.p.A., will likely spud its second Nikaitchuq North extended reach exploration well in second quarter 2022. The Alaska Beaufort Sea prospect is in a 13-lease federal OCS unit, Harrison Bay block 6423, which is approximately six miles from the Spy Island Drill site in the state Nikaitchuq unit (see map in pdf version of this story).
In Eni’s 13th plan of development for the Nikaitchuq unit the major told Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas that it will do facility upgrades to support NN-02, including a new six-slot well containment shelter and associated well conductors. The work will be done during the 13th POD period from Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021.
The original plan for NN-01, the first Nikaitchuq North wildcat, envisaged the potential drilling of a sidetrack well following completion of the main well. Eni no longer plans to finish drilling NN-01 or sidetrack it; rather it will try again with a new well.
Similar to the first ultra-extended reach well, NN-02 will be an S-shape wellbore into the target reservoir and drilled from Spy Island Drill site, or SID, which is a man-made gravel island in shallow state waters off Oliktok Point where Nikaitchuq’s onshore production and processing facilities are located.
With NN-02 Eni is again striving to break all Alaska records for extended reach drilling to reach a measured depth of 34,000-35,000 feet.
Short of its target
The NN-01 well was first spud at SID on Dec. 25, 2017, but drilling did not get underway until February 2018 because of what Eni said were “unforeseen impacts to the drilling schedule.”
The well was drilled to a measured depth of 30,010 feet and suspended in August 2018, but not fully logged as it was short of its target which seismic showed to be at approximately 34,150 feet. NN-01 drilling was done with Doyon Rig 15, which had been specially modified for the well.
Drilling operations resumed in mid-January 2019, but due to the “drilling complications” at NN-01 that had plagued it from the start, Eni said it suspended the well in April of that year.
Two-year delay
In its 13th POD Eni said it planned to resume drilling operations by spudding a new well, NN-02, in second quarter 2020, aiming to reach target depth by third quarter 2020. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Eni’s NN-02 well would be “targeting the same seismic anomaly” as the first well.
However; Shell, Eni’s working interest partner in the federal leases where the downhole target is located, “elected to go non-consent in the drilling of NN-02 well therefore causing Eni to temporarily postpone drilling plans,” Eni told the agency.
As a result of its partner’s decision not to participate in NN-02, Eni applied for and received from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement a suspension of operations for “an additional 2-year period, or until April 2022.”
Geological target speculation
The seismic anomaly from 3-D over Nikaitchuq North was not identified by Eni in the public portion of the plans it filed with the division or with BOEM, but it left hints elsewhere; specifically in the Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan application that appeared to be based on tapping the Jurassic Alpine sands, which would certainly qualify as an anomaly in the area.
Whatever the case, the 25,957 barrels per day in the contingency plan application could not be referring to the heavy Schrader Bluff oil produced from the Nikaitchuq unit that is known to extend a long way north because that oil can’t flow unassisted.
Also, the measured depth and angle of the well suggest one of the Jurassic sands.
A previous Nikaitchuq unit operator, Kerr-McGee and partner Armstrong, talked about the possibility of testing the Jurassic Nuiqsut sandstone and the Triassic Sag River sandstone to the north.
Spare processing capacity
One of the reasons Eni gave for stepping out north of the Nikaitchuq unit to test the Nikaitchuq North prospect was it wanted new oil to take advantage of significant spare capacity in the standalone Nikaitchuq unit production facility, which can currently handle 40,000 barrels per day and can easily be expanded to 50,000 bpd, according to Eni Alaska Vice President Whitney Grande.
Production from Nikaitchuq averaged 18,144 bpd in May.
Editor’s note: The above article was extracted from Petroleum News’ annual Explorers magazine, which will be released digitally in mid-August at Summer NAPE, with the print version scheduled to be inserted in the PN issue of Aug. 23.
