Division OKs exploration plan for Quokka drilling this winter
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Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas has approved a plan, as amended and modified, submitted by Santos subsidiary Oil Search (Alaska) in September for this winter's Quokka 1 exploration program.
(See map in the online issue PDF)
In a Nov. 29 decision, the division said it amended the plan with conditions of approval requiring Oil Search to indemnify the state for claims and damages, requiring status reports on May 1 and Nov. 1 until final completion report is filed, among other requirements.
Separately, the division is requiring bi-weekly reports to the division during the exploration operations "summarizing activities undertaken and their location within the permit area," with the frequency and content of the reports to be modified by the division as needed.
The division said that based on the exploration results it anticipates that Oil Search may submit plans for additional exploration drilling.
The Quokka unit, held 51% by Oil Search and 49% by Repsol, is on the North Slope generally south and east of Pikka and west of the Southern Miluveach and Kuparuk River units.
Ice pad, ice road The division said the Quokka 1 will be an appraisal well with an associated sidetrack, drilled from an ice pad measuring some 10 acres about 3 miles southeast of the Nanushuk Operations Pad along the Pikka access road, with a staging ice pad of some 5.7 acres to support project activities and an ice road some 1.2 miles long connecting the Quokka ice pad and the staging pad to the existing Pikka access road.
Oil Search will use Doyon 16 or a comparable rig, the division said, and the wells will be plugged and abandoned after completion.
Temporary buildings and structures will be used at the ice pad, mobilized to the pad and removed after drilling operations are complete. Temporary camps will be on the ice pad, on gravel pads in the area or at Deadhorse.
Power will be from portable generators.
The division said the nearby Pikka development "will provide support camps, medical services, and associated equipment as needed."
Prior activities The Quokka unit was formed in June 2022 and encompasses leases previously in the Placer unit. The division said prior to formation of the unit "a number of exploration activities were conducted to acquire data to better characterize the field."
This includes merging of prior 3D surveys "to create maps of reservoir characteristics" defining the Quokka unit and surrounding areas which Oil Search operates, with the volume totaling more than 1,700 square miles and 95% of Oil Search's acreage including Quokka.
A vertical seismic profile was done at Stirrup 1 in the 2019-20 winter season, and in 2019 Oil Search drilled the Mitquq 1 and Mitquq ST1, plugged and abandoned in 2020.
Prior to unit formation other companies drilled in the area, including three Placer wells drilled by ASRC Exploration in 2004, 2011 and 2016 and Atlas 1 and Atlas 1A drilled by Phillips Alaska in 2001, since plugged and abandoned.
The southernmost well drilled in the unit area was Cronus 1, drilled and abandoned in 2006 by Pioneer Natural Resources.
--KRISTEN NELSON
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