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AOGCC hearing on CIE Badami well permit
Company has been discussing with commission staff its request to drill B1-33 exploration well using alternate pressure gradient Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Cook Inlet Energy, a Glacier Oil and Gas company, operates the Badami unit on the North Slope under a subsidiary, Savant Alaska. CIE met with Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission staff Oct. 5 for a pre-submittal meeting on permits for the Badami B1-33 and B1-33PH wells and submitted the permit applications Oct. 16.
Its been back and forth ever since, with the company targeting a Feb. 1 spud date and still no permit.
In a Jan. 23 public hearing, AOGCC staff discussed the issue, followed by a presentation by CIE.
Its technical, with CIE proposing to use what the agency calls an alternate pressure gradient for calculating MASP, maximum anticipated surface pressure, to be encountered when drilling a well.
CIE is using Doyon 19 for the wells. That rig supports a MASP of 5,000 pounds per square inch; to meet AOGCCs requirement would require supplementing equipment on the rig to meet the 10,000 psi requirement, which, CIE said, cannot be done within the rig walls, but would require additional equipment which would be outside the rig walls, creating a concern about ice plugs.
At the Jan. 23 hearing, CIE said Doyon 19 was staging to travel on the ice road to meet a planned Feb. 1 spud date.
AOGCCs Mel Rixse, a senior petroleum engineer, said the commission didnt accept CIEs justification for the alternate pressure gradient.
He noted that there was a 2008 regulation change regarding the issue of pressure gradients, a change supported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.
During the public comment period at the end of the hearing, Rep. Tom McKay, chair of the Alaska House Resources Committee, called in to comment and offered to write emergency regulations to alleviate the problem.
CIE argues consistency CIE said in its presentation that it was requesting that AOGCC approve "a more accurate means of determining the maximum potential surface pressure." CIE personnel told the commission that its permit application was consistent with a previously drilled Badami well and said that at earlier meetings with AOGCC staff it had presented data from five previous penetrations at Badami.
The company presented a statement from Petrophysical Resources Alaska, PRA, which did a third-party review of CIEs data.
"CIE integrated sound geologic assumptions and followed accepted petroleum engineering principles and practices to calculate its MASP for the B1-33 well. Based on a review of the data, assumptions and information used by CIE, CIEs request for use of a different pressure gradient that provides a more accurate means of determining the maximum potential surface pressure is justified for the B1-33 well," PRA said in a statement provided to the commission by CIE.
AOGCC Chair Brett Huber said at the beginning of the hearing that no public comments were received and that completing the order would be expedited.
From Badami Main Pad The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas approved a unit plan of operations amendment for the B1-33 well Dec. 19, authorizing work on state lands.
The approval said the Kennicott B1-33 exploration well would be drilled with Doyon 19 or a similar rig on the Badami Main Pad.
A 26.6-mile ice road was planned from the Endicott/Duck Island Unit Road to the Badami Main Pad, work authorized separately, the division said.
A temporary 50-main camp on the Badami Main Pad will support operations.
The surface hole is on ADL 365533 and the bottomhole on ADL 367011.
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