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GMT2 producing
ConocoPhillips has first oil at NPR-A Greater Mooses Tooth 2 Dec. 12
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
ConocoPhillips Alaska began production Dec. 12 from its Greater Mooses Tooth 2 drill site in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The company said in a Dec. 14 release that first oil was achieved “under budget and on schedule.”
GMT2, ConocoPhillips’ second project in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit in the northeast NPR-A, is some 8 miles southwest of GMT1.
As a satellite development of the Alpine field, GMT2 is connected through GMT1 and CD5 infrastructure to the existing Alpine production center in the Colville River unit.
The company said in mid-November at the Resource Development Council’s annual conference that it had initiated a production test on its first production well at GMT2 and was completing the fourth well for the development - the second producer in a 36-well program.
ConocoPhillips has been producing from the Lookout pool at GMT1 since 2018.
The company said it submitted permit application for GMT2 to the Bureau of Land Management in August 2015. BLM completed a supplemental environmental impact statement and issued a record of decision on Oct. 16, 2018. BLM, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Kuukpik Corp. share land and mineral rights for the project.
In pool rules for the Rendezvous pool at GMT2 which it approved this summer, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said the Rendezvous A exploration well penetrated the accumulation in 2000 with additional exploratory wells drilled over the next few years (Rendezvous 2, Spark 1A, Moose’s Tooth C, Spark 4 and Carbon 1 - all drilled by ConocoPhillips - and Altamura 1, drilled by Anadarko Petroleum).
Rendezvous 2 and Altamura encountered black oil, AOGCC said, while Rendezvous A, Spark 1A, Spark 4 and Carbon 1 encountered gas columns with condensate in the gas.
The facilities There is a 14-acre drilling pad at GMT2, ConocoPhillips said, an 8-mile gravel road and pipeline facilities connected to existing Colville River unit infrastructure. Thirty-six wells are planned initially, with capacity at the pad for as many as 48 wells.
The company said peak production is estimated at some 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Project costs, including construction and drilling, are some $1.4 billion.
At peak construction during the past three winter seasons the project created some 700 jobs and more than 600,000 direct construction manhours.
“The GMT2 team safely executed this project is an environmentally responsible manner marking another successful milestone for development in the NPR-A,” said Erec Isaacson, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska. “Projects like these continue to create hundreds of jobs in Alaska and contribute to a stable Alaska economy. We appreciate the collaboration with stakeholders, from Kuukpik Corporation, the community of Nuiqsut, the North Slope Borough and ASRC that made it possible. Our continuous investment in projects on the North Slope benefits Alaska’s future.”
ERD may occur later In the Rendezvous pool rules, AOGCC said drilling at GMT2 began in the second quarter of this year with primary drilling expected to continue through the end of 2024. Extended reach drilling might occur later, the commission said.
The initial development is planned at 36 horizontal wells, split evenly between producers and injectors, AOGCC said. An additional 12 extended reach wells may be drilled, again split roughly between producers and injectors.
“Potential ERD wells will depend, in part, on drilling results and performance of the initial wells,” the commission said, and the ERD wells would extend development to the east and west.
AOGCC said the reservoir will be developed as a water- and water-alternating-enriched-gas-injection enhanced oil recovery project, with production and injection balanced to maintain reservoir pressure at or near the original measured pressure, preserving reservoir energy and increasing ultimate recovery.
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