Hilcorp Alaska has applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas to expand its Milne Point unit on the North Slope by some 13,275 acres, the division said in a March 7 public notice. The application lists 10 new wells in 2024-25 in the expansion area and an additional 18 by 2028.
A map accompanying Hilcorp's Dec. 29 application shows the majority of the expansion area to the north of the existing unit, with one smaller proposed expansion near the unit's southeast edge.
The expansion area includes parts of six leases: ADL 355017, ADL 355018, ADL 355021, ADL 355016, ADL 28232 and ADL 394167.
Hilcorp said three of those, ADL 355017, ADL 355018 and ADL 355021, are net profit share leases.
Hilcorp earlier applied to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for a smaller expansion to the northwest of the existing Schrader Bluff oil pool as described in AOGCC Conservation Order 477. (See story in Jan. 23 issue of Petroleum News.)
The AOGCC request lists four affected leases, two of which coincide with the six leases in the unit application expansion.
In addition to being a larger expansion, the unit expansion request includes both Kuparuk and Schrader Bluff reservoirs.
Hilcorp told the division it proposes to drill 10 wells in the expansion area this year and next, three Kuparuk formation wells -- one from K Pad and two from F Pad -- and seven Schrader Bluff wells, all from R Pad. The company told the division an additional 18 wells targeting Schrader Bluff across two leases, ADL 355018 and ADL 355021, are planned by the end of 2008.
Both of those leases are listed in the Schrader Bluff expansion request to AOGCC.
--KRISTEN NELSON
See full story in March 17 issue of Petroleum News, available online Thursday, March 14, at www.PetroleumNews.com.
