Producers 2024: ConocoPhillips enthusiastically expanding
 Click here to go directly to this story within the full PDF version of this issue, with any maps, photos or other artwork that appears in some of the articles.
Alaska's most consistent operator pursuing three major growth initiatives
Eric Lidji for Petroleum News
After several slow pandemic years, ConocoPhillips Alaska is firmly in a period of growth.
The largest and most consistent Alaska operator in the 21st century is undertaking three long-term expansion projects over the next five years. The company is adding two participating areas at its Kuparuk River unit to target new intervals, adding a pad at its Colville River unit to target the prolific Nanushuk formation and actively developing the Willow prospect at its Bear Tooth unit in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
That leaves the Greater Mooses Tooth unit, which is producing around 14,000 barrels per day and serves as a crucial infrastructure link connecting Bear Tooth back to the grid.
These projects come on top of existing daily operations at those units represent approximately $17 billion in upcoming investment in Alaska, according to the company.
Kuparuk River unit ConocoPhillips expanded the Kuparuk River unit this past year. The company successfully added two new participating areas: Torok and Coyote. And the company is currently working toward expanding the existing West Sak participating area.
The Torok participating area is associated with the Moraine interval at the Nuna satellite, while the Coyote participating area is associated with the Nanushuk formation.
The Torok participating area covers 16,102 acres in the northwest of the unit, beyond the current boundaries of the Kuparuk participating area. Previous exploration efforts by Sinclair Oil and Gas in the mid-1960s, Texaco in the 1980s, and ARCO in the 1990s discovered oil in the area. High water cuts rendered the area uneconomic at the time.
A breakthrough came in the 2010s, when Pioneer Natural Resources successfully tested horizontal multi-stage frac wells in a similar horizon at the Oooguruk unit to the north.
Additional testing provided more data, leading to the 3S-19 and Nuna No. 1 wells in the Torok participating area boundaries. ConocoPhillips followed those test wells with three producer/injector pairs: 3S Phase 1 (2015), Phase 2 (2018) and Phase 3 (2023).
The acreage in the Torok participating area was previously known as the Nuna satellite of the Oooguruk unit. Pioneer Natural Resources and Caelus Natural Resources each pursued the project as operators of Oooguruk. ConocoPhillips acquired the property from Caelus Natural Resources in 2019, including a preliminary drillsite and associated road.
ConocoPhillips sanctioned a $900 million project in 2023, began a 29-well development program this year. It expects first oil in early 2025 toward peak production of 20,000 barrels per day with cumulative recoverable oil estimated around 100 million barrels.
The Coyote participating area covers 16,278 acres at the western end of the unit. The area also saw previous exploration from Sinclair in the mid-1960s and Texaco in the 1980s.
The 3W-07 development well passed through Coyote toward a target in the Kuparuk in the early 1990s. ConocoPhillips drilled the Palm No. 1 exploration well in 2001. The vertical 3S-24B produced about 97,000 barrels over about 12 months in 2022. The 3S-704 producer and 3S-701A injector pair have been operating since the middle of 2023, while the 3S-718 and 3S-722 producer/injector pair from 2024 are awaiting completion.
In its plan of development for the year ending July 31, 2025, ConocoPhillips committed to building the new 3T drillsite to accommodate eight new Torok participating area wells and a portion of the estimated 30 and 40 new wells planned for the Coyote participating area. The majority of the Coyote wells are being planned for the existing 3S drillsite.
In that plan, ConocoPhillips proposed a 17-well development program this year at the Kuparuk River unit: eight at Torok, six at Coyote, and three at West Sak. The company completed a 12-well program this past year focusing on the same three areas, in addition to the regular slate of maintenance projects across all seven participating areas.
According to the company, the Kuparuk River unit produced 79,700 barrels of oil per day (29 million barrels total) in 2023, down from 81,700 barrels per day (29.8 million total) in 2022, down 2.4% year over year. The unit produced 13.8 million barrels in the first half of 2024, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Colville River unit The Nanushuk continues to be the driving force behind Colville River unit growth.
The Colville River unit includes eight participating areas, three oil pools, and eight distinct reservoirs within those pools. In the current development year, ConocoPhillips is planning no major development work at the Alpine, Fiord Kuparuk, Fiord Nechelik, or Fiord West Kuparuk, Nanuq Nanuq, Qannik or Narwhal participating areas. The company announced one producer planned for the Nanuq Kuparuk participating area.
In early 2024, ConocoPhillips drilled the Titan No. 1stratigraphic test well in the Fiord West Kuparuk participating area to guide future drilling in the area. The company also drilled the CD5-32X exploration well to test the Brookian Nanushuk interval. While previous wells have penetrated this interval, no fluid data had yet been collected.
In an amendment in September 2024, ConocoPhillips added three more wells, both attached to new participating areas created to target the Nanushuk formation.
The CD4-5XX well would be a producer in the recently approved Narwhal participating area. It would be drilled by May 15, 2025, as "part of continued development of the Brookian Nanushuk Narwhal reservoir from CD-4 pad," according to the company.
The two CD5-6XX wells would be a producer and injector pair in the Minke participating area, which the company proposed in an application to regulators in September 2024. The two horizontal wells would be drilled from existing CD-5 slots by May 15, 2025.
None of the three wells had been fully permitted as The Producers went to print.
In addition to these projects, ConocoPhillips plans to advance required work commitments required for its fifth expansion area in the south of the Colville River unit.
The company is planning to build a CD8 pad in the expansion area to access Narwhal resources that lay beyond the comfortable reach of extended-reach drilling from the CD4 pad. The current plan envisions 20-40 wells from CD8, "dependent on ongoing reservoir studies and learnings from CD4 Narwhal drilling and production to determine final spacing and optimum wellbore designs and trajectories," according to the company.
In its 2023 plan, ConocoPhillips drilled five CD4 wells, two producer-injector pairs and one "opportunity" well. These wells provided "additional data on reservoir performance and provide insights to optimize the CD4 and CD8 development concepts, including ultimate well spacing, waterflood performance, and surface facility design for CD8."
The company is also using the 2020 Narwhal 3D seismic survey and a 2022 survey by SAExploration, which will provide additional insights into the 5th expansion area.
Under the current timeline, ConocoPhillips would build CD8 between 2027 and 2029 with first oil around 2030. In addition to CD8, the CD4X3 pad expansion from 2022 will allow the company to eventually drill as many as 12 Narwhal wells from CD4.
The Narwhal participating area has gone by many names over the years. ConocoPhillips called the prospect Titania in the early 2000s. Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. called it Tofkat in the mid-2000s. ConocoPhillips called the prospect Putu in the late 2010s and later announced a 100 million to 350 million barrel Nanushuk discovery at Narwhal.
NPR-A The CD5 pad at the Colville River unit was transformational, allowing ConocoPhillips to cross the Nigliq Channel and access prospects in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, including the Greater Mooses Tooth unit and the Bear Tooth unit Willow prospect.
At the Greater Mooses Tooth unit, the company brought the Lookout project online from the GMT-1 pad in 2018 and the Rendezvous project online from the GMT-2 pad in 2021.
The company began pursuing Willow at Bear Tooth in 2018 following an exploration program and sanctioned the project in late 2023, following years of permitting and legal challenges. The $7.5 billion project would develop some 600 million barrels of recoverable oil, estimated to start in 2029 and peak at around 180,000 barrels per day.
In a November 2024 earnings call, ConocoPhillips SVP Kirk Johnson said, "the team is really sharpening the pencil right now on preparing for our 2025 winter construction season... In 2025, we'll resume those critical activities that ... you have to do from ice roads. And so that consists of gravel placement for roads and paths. We'll resume pipeline installations, and then we'll also start to begin placing camps out at Willow."
With the completion of ice road construction, the company can begin moving operation enter modules into place. Those modules arrived on the North Slope in August 2024.
Buying Chevron assets Another 2024 event: ConocoPhillips Alaska said Oct. 3 that it signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire Chevron U.S.A. Inc.'s and Union Oil Company of California's non-operated interest in the Kuparuk River unit and a portion of its non-operated interest in the Prudhoe Bay unit for approximately $300 million, subject to customary adjustments at closing.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2024.
Upon closing, ConocoPhillips Alaska's working interest will increase approximately 5% to a range of 94-99% in the Kuparuk River unit, inclusive of satellite fields, and will increase 0.4% to approximately 36.5% in the Prudhoe Bay unit.
The transaction is expected to add an estimated 5,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day to the company's portfolio going forward.
"This transaction once again demonstrates our investment in the state," said Isaacson. "In the first half of 2024, our investments in Alaska projects have exceeded $1.4 billion, underscoring our sustained commitment to Alaska for more than 50 years."
Expanding KIC entrance And there is one other thing.
On Oct. 1, 2024, ConocoPhillips Alaska applied to the division for a unit plan of operations amendment to cover a 3.5-acre expansion at the north entrance of the Kuparuk Industrial Center pad.
In its project overview the company said the work would involve placing some 20,140 cubic yards of clean gravel fill between the KIC laydown yard and the existing northern entrances.
Because the existing gravel infrastructure has inconsistent thickness, a 3-inch-thick blue board insulation will be laid under the gravel for thermal protection of underlying permafrost and allowing a smoother transition to existing grade.
"Extending the northern entrances increases laydown space and safety for large vehicles and emergency equipment utilizing the existing KIC gravel pad," ConocoPhillips said.
Discussing the purpose and need for the work, the company said it "will increase safety and support the transportation and storage of heavy equipment, emergency equipment, piping, modules, and other materials on the KIC gravel pad" maintaining safe and reliable operation of existing infrastructure needed to support ongoing and planned activities in the Greater Kuparuk Area.
KIC work plan The schedule calls for gravel mining, hauling, placement and compacting from Jan. 15, 2025, through June 1, 2025, which is the anticipated date for project completion.
Construction equipment involved may include graders, front-end loaders, dump trucks, excavators and compactors.
Gravel will be from Mine Site C or other permitted sources in the Greater Kuparuk Area, with gravel to be placed by existing maintenance contractor work force at Kuparuk.
There will be permanent impacts to 3.5 acres of jurisdictional wetlands, ConocoPhillips said, noting that "wetlands proposed for impact have experienced indirect impacts from surrounding development which have decreased their overall function."
| 