More well capacity
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New capability will enable six additional wells from Julius R platform
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
Contractors working for Furie Operating Alaska have completed the implementation of surface well slots and conductor tubing on the Julius R platform that will now enable up to 12 wells to be operated from the platform, John Hendrix, Furie owner and chief executive, told Petroleum News on March 21. To date the platform has only been able to handle up to six wells. The platform, offshore in the Cook Inlet, is used to produce gas from the Kitchen Lights gas field. Well tubing will pass through the conductor tubing to the seafloor.
The platform upgrade will enable a significant increase in the gas production capacity and reliability from the Kitchen Lights field.
Hendrix commented that the possibility of operating more wells from the platform will give his company greater confidence in signing long-term gas supply contracts, given the potential to have backup wells in support of gas production. In its most recent plan of operations Furie had indicated an intent to increase the well capacity to eight wells, but, in the event, it has now proven possible to double the capacity to 12 wells.
"It gives us options ... the more options you have, the better chances you have," Hendrix said.
Having more wells also enables the operating costs for the platform to spread across the additional wells, he added.
More field development The plan with the additional well capacity is to drill more field development wells, directionally drilled within a 3-mile radius of the platform. Furie is trying to work out a contract with Hilcorp Alaska for the use of Hilcorp's Spartan 151 jack-up drilling rig in April, May and June of this year, to drill one or two new wells at the platform. The availability of the rig does, however, depend on the extent to which Hilcorp is going to use the rig. An alternative strategy could be to bring a second rig to the inlet, but that would involve additional cost, Hendrix said.
Given the cost of mobilizing and de-mobilizing the rig, it would be preferable to drill two wells, rather than one. And if the drilling of two wells is successful this year, Furie would like to move forward with the drilling of four wells next year, Hendrix commented.
Two gas resource pools The Kitchen Lights field has gas resources in two pools: the Sterling pool and the Beluga pool. However, given that production from the Sterling pool tends to contain large amounts of water, Furie is particularly focusing its development on the Beluga pool. In early 2019, before Hendrix took over Furie, the gas pipeline from the platform to the shore became plugged by freezing water, given the high level of water production from the field. Under Hendrix Furie installed a water treatment facility on the platform to enable clean water to be discharged into the sea rather than be passed down the pipeline.
Hendrix said that Furie is still negotiating with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation over the permitting of the water treatment plant, although the discharged water does not cause any pollution.
Hendrix said that the recent drilling of an additional well has increased the Kitchen Lights gas production from 5% to 7.5% of the total gas production from the Cook Inlet basin. The drilling of two further wells should then increase this to somewhere in the range of 10% to 12%. The company hopes to eventually further increase its production to a 25% level.
This comes at a time when there are increasing concerns about the future adequacy of Cook Inlet gas production.
Many drilling targets Hendrix said that the Kitchen Lights field reservoir rocks are very fractured, with gas resources acting rather like streams meandering through the subsurface. And the "streams" operate at different depths. Essentially, it is a question of drilling into these resources, while gradually stepping out from the location of the platform.
"We've identified 27 well targets within a 3-mile radius of our platform," Hendrix said.
With a maximum of 12 wells that could be drilled from the platform, the drilling strategy involves first targeting gas that is relatively distant from the platform and then drilling sidetrack wells to access resources that are closer to the platform.
At the moment, Furie is focused on development drilling and gas production, rather than exploration drilling, Hendrix said. When people need gas, the question becomes whether to risk a month or two drilling an exploration well, versus drilling a couple of development wells and then bringing the wells online for gas production, he said.
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