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88 Energy’s Hickory well to test next winter; Leonis advances
88 Energy recently updated shareholders on its Hickory 1 well, part of the company’s Phoenix project on Alaska's North Slope.
Initial results from the Hickory 1 exploration well spud March 9 indicated intersection of all primary and secondary targets, plus uncovered a new Upper SFS reservoir not previously intersected, the company said in an ASX release and later in a company financial presentation in mid-April.
(See map in the online issue PDF)
88 Energy said the well displays sufficient evidence of hydrocarbons to justify flow testing Hickory 1 next winter.
Hickory 1 is adjacent to the Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, or TAPS, within state of Alaska oil and gas lease ADL 392314.
88 Energy holds a ~75% working interest in the well and is operator. Hickory 1 was drilled to a total depth of 10,650 feet.
According to the company wireline logging data suggests “multiple prospective pay zones” in sandstone reservoirs between depths of 7,700 feet and 10,500 feet with an estimated 450 foot of net pay across all pay zones.
Average total porosity across all zones is 9-12%, including key zones identified for potential testing in the Upper and Lower SFS reservoirs with 11-16% total porosity.
88 Energy also said that a preliminary petrophysical comparison of the Hickory 1 prospective zones against the interval that flowed oil in Great Bear Pantheon’s Alkaid 1 well to the north has indicated favorable potential for successful flow tests from multiple zones in Hickory 1.
However more analysis of the data is needed to confirm and refine gross and net pay.
The company will release prospective resource estimates in the second half of 2023.
Preliminary planning has already begun for the flow testing program, including efforts to secure a rig.
Other wells in the immediate vicinity have flowed and recovered light oil to surface from all the SMD, SFS and BFF reservoirs, which 88 Energy said should de-risk development should flow-testing prove up the resource.
“We are excited about the results to date from the Hickory 1 well, and particularly encouraged by the identification of multiple pay zones across the primary and secondary targets. The results have confirmed or exceeded our pre-drill expectations with regard to the primary and secondary targets, and also identified the new Upper SFS reservoir, which is very pleasing for both the company and its shareholders,” 88 Energy Managing Director Ashley Gilbert said.
“We are now fully focused on demobilization and safe completion of the current phase of the Hickory 1 well, in parallel with early planning actions for the next phase of operations at Hickory 1: scheduled flow testing as early as possible in the 2023/24 winter operational season in Alaska,” he said.
“We are particularly encouraged by the fact that wells in the immediately adjacent northern acreage have flowed and recovered light oil to surface from all of the SMD, SFS and BFF reservoirs, which bodes particularly well for our planned testing program next season,” Gilbert said.
Formal award of Leonis acreage In the latest development, 88 Energy’s wholly owned subsidiary Captivate Energy Alaska has received lease award notices from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas for an area on the North Slope 88 Energy calls Project Leonis.
The award brings 25,430 contiguous acres immediately south of Prudhoe Bay into play, with the company planning a detailed analysis to determine the exploration opportunity and define a possible exploration program.
The existing 3D data suite is likely to enable the company to undertake detailed, informed analysis to understand the exploration opportunity, 88 Energy said in an April 20 ASX release.
“Formal award of this new acreage provides confirmation of a further highly attractive Alaskan exploration proposition for our business. Project Leonis benefits from proximity to infrastructure and services at Prudhoe Bay and Deadhorse, as well as an historical well that indicated oil shows and calculated pay in the Upper Schrader Bluff (USB) zone of interest. Importantly, the lease area is covered by an existing 3D data suite, allowing us to undertake detailed, informed analysis to properly understand the exploration opportunity. Our team will now be busy utilizing a suite of modern analysis techniques to further advance the project,” Gilbert said.
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