Oil patch insider: Fiord West well hits 12,000 bpd; Exit from ANWR 1002 Area political

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.’s Fiord West Kuparuk well CD2-310 has been “flowing steady” at 11,500 barrels of oil per day, CPAI’s media director told Petroleum News June 1.

“The well choke is now fully open. A high rate was reached on May 25 of 12 MBOPD,” Rebecca Boys said in an email.

On May 18, CPAI achieved first oil at the North Slope Fiord West Kuparuk satellite, which is in the Alpine field of the Colville River unit. The well, CD2-310, was a record-setting horizontal well drilled into the Kuparuk by Doyon Rig 26, an extended reach drilling rig nicknamed the “Beast” because of its immense size.

On May 20 CPAI said the well’s flowrate was “being progressively increased and is currently producing close to 10,000 barrels of oil per day, exceeding expectations.”

Initially, CPAI hoped to produce some 20,000 barrels of oil per day from the satellite, but that was from several wells.

The company said the well will be “pre-produced for 5-6 months prior to being converted to permanent injection service.” (CD2-310 was initially planned to be a development well, but its status was later changed by CPAI to that of an injector.)

The largest mobile land rig in North America, Doyon Rig 26 drilled CD2-310 to a total measured depth of 35,526 feet on April 11, making it the longest North American land based well.

Doyon Rig 26 is a technologically advanced rig, capable of drilling in excess of 40,000 feet, which substantially extends the reach from a single pad.

That means the rig will be able to develop 154 square miles of reservoir from a 14-acre drilling pad versus 55 square miles using today’s conventional rigs. CD2-310 was the first well drilled by the rig.

The Fiord West Kuparuk development “opens a new era we call ‘growth without gravel’ where we can use extended reach technology to access 60% more acreage from a single pad, dramatically reducing our footprint and enabling us to safely produce from environmentally sensitive areas,” CPAI President Erec Isaacson said May 20.

Technology has been at the heart of CPAI’s greening of its oil fields on the North Slope.

Exits from ANWR not sign of disinterest

And more recently Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of 88 Energy, asked the Biden administration to cancel their U.S. Bureau of Land Management leases issued by the Trump administration on Jan. 20,, 2021 in the (stratigraphic) western region of the 1002 Area, as well as to refund their bonus bid and first year rental fees, which was done by the National Resources Revenue office.

The Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases in the ANWR 1002 Area on June 1, 2021.

When Congress created the 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1980, it set aside 1.57 million acres of coastal plain for resource development, known as Area 1002, after a section of the law.

To date, only one well has been drilled in the 1002 Area. Chevron and BP partnered in the mid-1980s on the 15,193-foot KIC No. 1 well, drilling the $40 million well over two winter seasons on their 92,000-acre lease. Arctic Slope Regional Corp. owns subsurface rights at the lease and local village corporation Kaktovik Inupiat Corp. owns surface rights. The KIC well was named after the village corporation.

In the three decades since, the KIC No. 1 well has become mythic for its secrecy. Only select people at Chevron, BP and ASRC, as well as a few State of Alaska geoscientists, are believed to have seen the well results.

But the companies defended the well’s confidentiality in court and hung onto their lease for nearly 40 years.

And those few people who are known to have seen the KIC well’s results and have spoken out publicly, have all supported opening the 1002 Area to exploration drilling.

When the two companies renewed the KIC No. 1 lease in 1999, then-Exploration Vice President for BP Exploration Alaska Neil Ritson said in a press release, “ANWR offers the greatest potential for a world-class oil discovery on the North Slope. Quoted in the same release, then-Exploration Manager for Chevron Dave Birsa said what state geoscientists have continued to echo: “The ANWR coastal plain … is on trend with the prolific oil fields of the central North Slope and has significant geological potential.”

Ken Boyd, a former director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas and known to have been privy to the KIC well results, as well as a member of the industry team that designed the only seismic program shot in the 1002 area (winter 1983-84), won’t talk about the results, but a few years later he did talk about what he called “common sense” trendology.

“Trendology clearly shows that the Barrow Arch is pointing right at ANWR. … And, if it is, just on the basis of this trend, you’d have to be nuts to look at that and say the oil must stop right here, on the edge of ANWR,” Boyd said.

“The Barrow Arch has proven to be the major oil feature in Alaska since the discovery of Prudhoe Bay,” Boyd said.

Congress set aside the 1002 Area “because it’s on-trend with some of the biggest oil fields in North America,” he said.

Over the course of its existence, the ANWR 1002 Area has become a symbol in the debate over American energy and environmental policy. Those opinions are increasingly aligned with parties.

What reason did Chevron formally give for releasing the 92,000-acre lease?

“Chevron’s decision to formally relinquish its legacy lease position was driven by the goal of prioritizing and focusing our exploration capital in a disciplined manner and in the context of our entire portfolio of opportunities.”

ASRC’s statement said “the current political environment” forced the companies to give up their leases.

“ASRC remains committed to the development of our lands in the 1002 Area. … We will continue to work with the residents in Kaktovik - the only community in ANWR - and our strategic partners to safeguard the economic future of our communities.”