After seven days of discussions with Biden administration officials, on Jan. 29 at 8:41 a.m. the operator of 88 Energy’s Peregrine Project exploration program in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska received the signed permit for the first of two winter wells, Merlin 1. Biden Interior appointee Laura Daniel Davis, a former policy and advocacy chief for the National Wildlife Federation, signed the drilling permit, lifting the 60-day freeze placed on federal drilling permits (see story in the Jan. 31 issue of Petroleum News).
Merlin 1 and a second Peregrine Project well, Harrier 1, are on acreage owned by 88 Energy subsidiary Emerald House. They are two of three exploration wells being drilled on Alaska’s North Slope this winter. The third well, Talitha A, was spud ahead of schedule on Jan. 13. Pantheon Resources, a London-based oil and gas exploration company with working interests of 89.2% to 100% in operator Great Bear’s North Slope assets, describes Talitha A as an appraisal well, while the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission labels it an exploration well.
Per AOGCC, in 2017 there also were three North Slope exploration wells drilled - two by Armstrong and one by 88 Energy subsidiary Accumulate (the permits for the Peregrine wells are in Accumulate’s name). In 2011 only one exploration well was drilled - by Brooks Range Petroleum.
The reason three wells in 2021 seems like a measly number is because the two previous years have been strong. In 2019, 13 exploration wells were drilled and 2020 started out very promising with ConocoPhillips by itself planning six to eight wells, but then Americans became aware of the coronavirus and caution prompted oil companies to pull crews from the North Slope. That was followed by an oil price crash and lockdowns across the country that reduced demand and slowed oil price recovery, dampening interest in North Slope exploration drilling this winter.
Back at work
Having received the word late on Jan. 28 that the Merlin 1 permit was being signed, the crews were ordered back on the job and headed out the next morning. 88 Energy’s exploration program will now be running on a 24-hour basis to make up for the seven lost days, cycling in and out so that a full crew is always working. Erik Opstad, a geologist who has worked the North Slope for 35 years and heads up operating subsidiaries of 88 Energy in Alaska, oversees the Peregrine Project.
“Harrier 1 is planned to commence immediately following completion of operations at Merlin 1, subject to results from Merlin 1, schedule and permit approvals,” 88 Energy said in a Jan. 31 announcement that was dated Feb. 1 from the company’s Australia headquarters.
The wells will target the prolific Nanushuk formation at approximately a 6.000-foot depth. Merlin 1 is considered a direct analogy to ConocoPhillips Willow oil discovery, while ConocoPhillips’ Harpoon prospect is interpreted to lie on the same sequence boundaries as Harrier 1.
In its Jan. 31 announcement, 88 Energy said commissioning of All American Rig 11 is almost complete, with mobilization “expected within days.”
A single lane, 95-mile snow road into the Merlin 1 location is expected to be finished in approximately two weeks, 88 Energy said.
The company expects the well to be spud “in late February/early March.”
Talitha close to Dalton
Some 8 miles west of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and Dalton Highway at Milepost 386.7, Talitha drilling is planned to a total vertical depth of approximately 10,000 feet and will “target the shallowest Shelf Margin Deltaic horizon as the primary objective and will also drill through a number of secondary objectives including: (i) the ‘Slope Fan System’, (ii) the ‘Basin Floor Fan’, and (iii) the ‘Kuparuk’ horizons,” Pantheon said.
Given the number of targeted formations, and subject to positive results, Pantheon intends to make full use of the available winter drilling window, “undertaking drilling and testing operations as long as weather permits.”
The Talitha A well is 4 miles from the Pipeline State 1 well, drilled in 1988 by ARCO, and which confirmed the presence of movable hydrocarbons in the objective horizons.
“The close proximity to pipeline and transportation infrastructure offers Pantheon a number of material advantages over other Alaska North Slope projects, including lower capex costs and shorter project development timelines.,” the company said.
Pantheon estimates the Talitha well will target approximately 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil across the multiple stacked (primary and secondary) objectives. An independent expert’s report was completed on the updip section of the Shelf Margin Deltaic, the primary target, and confirmed a prospective resource of 302 million barrels of recoverable oil, the company said.
88 Energy’s Managing Director Dave Wall told Petroleum News Feb. 1 that the company wants to thank the Alaska BLM office, Alaska congressional office and Davis.
