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Armstrong to drill Sockeye-2 exploration well on eastern North Slope
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
Bill Armstrong's Lagniappe Alaska is returning to the eastern North Slope this winter to drill the Sockeye-2 exploration well on state of Alaska acreage approximately 8 miles southeast of Badami, within the Lagniappe-operated oil and gas lease block.
The Sockeye-2 well surface location is approximately 1,000 feet north of the Sockeye-1 well, drilled in the winter season of 2023-24 as part of the Lagniappe Exploration Program in a search for Pikka-look-alikes east of Prudhoe Bay. The wells each targeted large 3D-defined opportunities.
The program called for drilling a total of six wells using three rigs drilling simultaneously over a period of 2 years with a maximum of three exploration wells per season. But because of record bad weather on the North Slope none of the wells were able to be completed and tested and only one, the King Street-1, reached its target depths.
The record bad weather included unusually warm temperatures, then really windy weather, followed by more wind, snow and below normal temps.
As a result, the Sockeye-1 and Voodoo-1 wells were plugged before reaching their targeted formations as there wasn't time to drill and evaluate them prior to the end of the drilling season.
The King Street-1 well was drilled to a total depth of 10,241 feet. Hydrocarbons were found in two separate zones at depths of 8,130 feet and 9,850 feet. Wireline evaluation, sidewall cores and MDT data from the well indicated pay in both lower and upper zones in high-quality late Cretaceous clastic reservoirs. But further evaluation was needed to determine the scope and focus of future appraisal drilling necessary to determine the size and extent of the King Street-1 discoveries.
Began with Pikka In 2013, Armstrong Oil & Gas along with its partner Repsol, kicked off one of the hottest exploration plays in the world west of Prudhoe Bay in the Pikka field.
This discovery was followed by other Pikka look-a-likes: Brookian topset plays such as Willow, Stirrup, Mitquq and Coyote. In aggregate the fields have projected resources in excess of 5 billion barrels.
With Bill Armstrong's understanding of Brookian topset plays, he identified multiple Pikka look-a-like prospects 70-90 miles to the east.
In the 2023-24 winter season Lagniappe held a 25% working interest ownership in the 275,000-acre block of eastern North Slope leases the company drilled on behalf of partners APA Alaska LLC (50% WIO), an APA Corp. affiliate company, and Oil Search (Alaska) LLC (25% WIO), a Santos affiliate.
Based on information gleaned from these wells, Lagniappe amended their exploration plan for the 2024-25 season with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas.
That lease plan of operations amendment was applied for on Oct. 29 and approved on Dec. 3.
The Sockeye-2 well has two completion options; either it will be plugged and abandoned or it will be suspended after drilling and testing is complete. It will be drilled using the Doyon 141 rig.
Project mobilization Project mobilization for Sockeye-2 will follow a similar route to the 2023-24 season. The Doyon 141 drill rig will be transported to the drill site via a 35-mile ice road beginning at the Endicott Road. The ice road will measure approximately 36 feet wide and 18 inches deep.
The drill site will be an ice pad measuring up to 1,000 feet by 1,000 feet in size.
A hardened snow trail measuring 4.1 miles long and 26 feet wide will be constructed from Badami to facilitate early season ice construction.
Temporary facilities will include personnel camps, tanks, generators, maintenance shops, and other containers and connexes.
Ice and snow road construction will be approved separately through LAS 34790. Pre-packing activities are anticipated to begin as soon as conditions allow.
Drilling is scheduled to start as early as Jan. 1. Demobilization is scheduled for May 1.
Better oil All reports say the play concept in the Lagniappe-operated acreage on the eastern North Slope is very similar to the Brookian at Pikka. Multiple zones, onshore, good gravity oil, reasonably close to infrastructure.
But the targeted objectives are slightly younger than what Santos and partner Repsol have at Pikka but with better reservoir qualities -- porosity and permeability -- even though they are deeper.
There have been very few wells drilled in and near Lagniappe's eastern area -- and most of those wells were drilled in the 1970s trying to find another Prudhoe Bay, but almost all of the wells bypassed good oil shows, Armstrong said in a 2021 interview.
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