BP wasn't the operator when the Gubik Unit 1 exploration well was drilled on the North Slope in 1963, but of the three drilling partners -- operator Colorado Oil and Gas, Sinclair Oil & Gas Co. and BP Exploration Company (Alaska) -- it is the only remaining company.
As such, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission called on BP in November 2022 after it found that the well, drilled on federal lease ADF 020932, was only partially plugged in 1966. AOGCC said its records show the well lacks a surface plug, a requirement of the agency's regulations both in 1966 and currently.
The commission gave BP 30 days to provide documentation showing the well had been properly plugged and abandoned, or that the company was not responsible for the P&A.
Otherwise, BP had 90 days to apply for the P&A work, with operations to be completed by April 2024.
BP, through Remediation Management Services Co., requested an extension to allow time for a site visit and to provide for adequate time to plan and execute the work, an extension which the commission granted to April 2025.
A December 2024 request for an extension to April 2026, also granted by the commission, was based on time required to complete surface water and soil sampling at the site required by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and to install thermistors along the required winter trail to the site, work only partially completed during the summer of 2024, Remediation Management Services told the commission, because of maintenance issues with the helicopter company.
P&A work
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas is asking for public comments on BP American Production Co.'s P&A work at Gubik 1, with a deadline of July 30.
The division said it received a land use permit application July 10 from BP for off road travel in support of the Gubik 1 P&A.
The land use permit is from ERM Alaska Inc. on behalf of BP American Production Co. for authorization for P&A activities at Gubik 1, 91 miles southwest of Deadhorse and some 18 miles east-northeast of Umiat.
Summer 2025 work will include an archaeological survey and installation of 15 thermistors along the proposed snow trail route, with winter site work and snow trail construction scheduled for February through April 2026.
The division said equipment for winter activities will be staged at the west side of Franklin Bluffs Pad.
The application is for use of up to some 764 acres.
The application says BP's objective at Gubik 1 is to simultaneously address AOGCC P&A requirements and ADEC regulatory requirements.
ERM Alaska said the snow trail is similar to routes historically used to reach Umiat and Gubik 1.
The correction action at Gubik 1 "will require the removal and disposal of contaminated materials, including hydrocarbon impacted material, empty drums, and potentially gravel," the company said, materials which will be removed using the snow trail.
BP's P&A contractor Cudd Well Control will be responsible for plugging and abandonment work and has indicated that a "top job" will be required to properly P&A the well, ERM said. That will involve "drilling through some of the ice in the well, installing concrete surface plugs, and cutting the well off below the ground surface. The lower well seals will be left in place."
A snubbing unit will be required for the P&A work and will be mobilized over the snow trail, with the rig in pieces and a crane required to erect it.
ERM said up to 15 people are anticipated to be traveling along the access trail at any time during winter activities, including pre-packing and snow trail construction. The number includes on-site crew and drivers of machinery and transport vehicles.
A temporary landing strip near the project site will be built with snow trail construction techniques and most personnel will fly in and out.
Not commercial
Following the drilling of Gubik Unit 1, the U.S. Geological Survey determined that results were not sufficient to hold the unit, considering its distance from market and the costs to transport the small amount of gas discovered. The well was a vertical hole reaching a total depth of 4,406 feet.
USGS told Colorado Oil and Gas in a Nov. 29, 1963, letter that it did not consider Gubik 1 a commercial producer, based on information from the company that the well was possibly capable of initial production of only 600 mcf, thousand cubic feet, per day, as indicated by the company's final test on Nov. 12, 1963, the completion date of the well. USGS required additional drilling operations at Gubik to begin by May 11, 1964, to hold the unit.
In a Jan. 22, 1964, response to USGS, Colorado Oil and Gas said while preliminary results from the well "indicate that westward locations would be attractive," there was litigation pending on unleased acreage to the west and drilling equipment on the Arctic Slope was not available and looked to be engaged in other operations for most of the next two years, with drilling parties in the Gubik well -- Sinclair, BP and Colorado Oil and Gas -- "actively engaged in such other exploratory efforts, which for the most part are operations required under development contracts negotiated with the United States Geological Survey."
The companies did not appeal the USGS decision but did request that the unit be preserved and two years, until May 12, 1966, to allow for a second well. No second well was drilled, and the unit was terminated April 1, 1965.
Colorado Oil and Gas completed final abandonment of the Gubik 1 Sept. 13, 1966.
--KRISTEN NELSON
