|
Exploration update
Armstrong and Great Bear drill North Slope 2024-25 exploratory wells
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
In the 2024-25 Alaska North Slope winter exploration drilling season two wells have been spud -- Great Bear Pantheon's Megrez-1 in November and Bill Armstrong's Lagniappe Sockeye-2, which is being drilled as this issue of Petroleum News goes to press.
A third possibility had been Quokka-1 in the Quokka unit, which is held 51% by Santos subsidiary and unit operator Oil Search (Alaska) and 49% by Repsol. The unit is generally south and east of Pikka and west of the Southern Miluveach and Kuparuk River units. But in Oil Search (Alaska)'s application for an Oil Spill Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan, the company said operations for Quokka-1 are to begin as soon as October of this year, which took the well out of running to be included in this season's exploration wells.
Nonetheless, Petroleum News sources said this past season because of early tundra access the company was able to start pre-packing snow for pipelines early in November as well as build ice roads.
As part of its work commitment with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas, Oil Search (Alaska) must drill two wells in the Quokka unit by 2027.
The company likely prefers to drill one well at a time over a two-year period.
First well On Nov. 10, Pantheon Resources announced that the Megrez-1 well was spud on Alaska's North Slope by Great Bear Pantheon, the target being "three topset horizons which Pantheon estimates to contain an aggregate 2U prospective resource of 609 million barrels of ANS crude (oil, condensate and NGLs) and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas."
Great Bear Pantheon is exploring the eastern topsets in the Ahpun and Kodiak fields, immediately adjacent to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and road infrastructure.
Great Bear Pantheon contracted the Nabors 105AC rig to drill the Megrez-1 well.
Construction of the gravel pad next to the Dalton Highway was completed in October, and the pad can be used year-round to support future drilling and development activities, Pantheon said.
On Oct. 14 the Division of Oil and Gas sent Patrick Galvin, Great Bear Pantheon's chief commercial officer, approval to adjust the downhole location of the Megrez-1 well.
The surface location of the Megrez pad remained the same as described in the original approval dated Aug. 29, however the well trajectory passed through ADL 394101 and terminated in ADL 394202.
The non-unitized leases are operated by Great Bear and are directly adjacent to the Talitha Unit
This plan modification also included widening of the driveway from the previously approved width of 24 feet to 34 feet. The increased width was necessary to provide the drill rig and support equipment safe access to the site, Pantheon said.
East: Pikka lookalikes On Jan. 7 the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved a drilling permit for Lagniappe Alaska's Sockeye-2 exploratory well on the eastern North Slope. Because the well was deemed confidential there was no additional information available from AOGCC.
But as reported in early December by Petroleum News, Bill Armstrong's Lagniappe Alaska returned to the eastern North Slope this winter to drill the Sockeye-2 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 lookalikes 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 two 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.
The record bad weather included unusually warm temperatures, then really windy weather, followed by more wind, snow and below normal temps.
Sockeye-2, like Sockeye-1, is being drilled using the Doyon 141 rig.
| 