Expansion, contraction for Qannik oil pool

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

ConocoPhillips Alaska has requested a vertical expansion and an aerial contraction of the Qannik Oil Pool in the Colville River unit.

In a Feb. 6 application to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission the company requested modification of the Qannik Oil Pool conservation order, expanding the QOP vertically by raising the top of the pool from 6,086 feet measured depth to 6,030 feet MD, and the contraction of one full and one partial section of land out of the pool “to align with lease ownership.”

“This accumulation stratigraphically defines the oil-bearing sandstone body named Qannik,” ConocoPhillips said. Pool rules were established and the accumulation defined by AOGCC in 2008.

Since formation, nine development wells have been completed in the QOP and some 7.7 million barrels of oil have been produced from QOP.

ConocoPhillips said the lands proposed for exclusion from QOP were subject to mandatory contraction from the Colville River unit effective Feb. 15, 2014, and the leases for the contracted lands expired at that time.

ConocoPhillips is the working interest owner in the unit and said the contraction was a housekeeping measure which align the QOP with its lease position. The company said it was its understanding that AOGCC “prefers the administrative clarity of having pools match lease positions when feasible, and we support that objective with respect to the QOP.”

The area proposed for contraction is at the southeastern corner of the oil pool as defined in AOGCC Conservation Order 605.

New drilling opportunities

Sands above the K-2 in the current QOP area show minimal thickness and interbedded shales, but “new information shows that in areas reachable from the CD4 drillsite, the interval above the K-2 thickens and develops into reservoir quality sands and contain significant levels of hydrocarbons.”

Extending the QOP vertically to the top of the K-3 Basal Siltstone “will allow for testing the producibility of the recently drilled and hydraulically fractured CD4-499 producer. Depending on results, it would allow for future development of the QOP from CD4 pad.”

ConocoPhillips said for planning purposes its base case, “subject to contingencies, provides for drilling 3-5 wells into the vertically expanded QOP from 2020 to 2023.”

It drilled the CD4-499 production well as a productivity test of the Qannik reservoir in the CD4 area and said the well “inverted at the toe to test the extent and quality of the overlying K-3 Basal Siltstone away from existing well control.”

AOGCC has tentatively scheduled a hearing on the request for March 17 at 10 a.m. at its Anchorage offices but said in its Feb. 10 notice that if a timely request for a hearing is not filed, it may consider issuance of an order without a hearing.

The commission will accept written comments through March 14 at 4:30 p.m., unless a hearing is held, in which case written comments will be accepted through the end of the hearing.