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More wells planned at Prudhoe IPA in 2024
Count fell short in 2023 POD, but operator Hilcorp North Slope says second coil tubing rig to be added in June 2024, upping count Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
In its May 23 approval of Hilcorp North Slope's 2024 plan of development for the initial participating area at Prudhoe Bay, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas said Hilcorp, the Prudhoe operator, attributed failure to drill the proposed number of wells during the 2023 POD to rig scheduling issues, specifically the availability of only a single coil tubing drilling rig.
In the April technical meeting on the PODs, Hilcorp told the division it expected a second coil tubing rig to be operational in the IPA by mid-June.
The 2024 IPA POD covers July 1 through June 30, 2025.
Hilcorp became operator at Prudhoe in 2020 after it acquired BP Exploration (Alaska) and changed the name of the operating entity to Hilcorp North Slope, the division said. Hilcorp holds an average ownership of 26.36% at Prudhoe, with ExxonMobil Alaska Production at 36.4%, ConocoPhillips Alaska at 36.08% and Chevron U.S.A. at 1.16%.
There are 12 Prudhoe participating areas and the IPA POD covers just the oil rim and gas cap PAs.
The division said that in 2023 the IPA produced some 2.759 billion cubic feet of natural gas, 53.62 million barrels of black oil and 16.555 million barrels of natural gas liquids, with average daily production of 146,905 barrels of black oil and 45,355 barrels of NGLs.
2023 POD In the 2023 POD, Hilcorp told the division it planned to drill up to 38 wells in the IPA, although the company said some might be deferred to other areas of Prudhoe depending on well economics. Workovers were to be performed as needed, and the company said it expected fewer than in previous years because it had been working through a backlog of broken wells. Non-rig interventions were expected to remain flat during the 2023 POD.
Facility upgrades in the 2023 POD included CCP compressor upgrades, GC2 B bank slug catcher internals redesign, drill site 18 pipeline construction and H pad pipeline construction.
The division said that when the technical meeting on the 2024 POD was held in April, only 11 of the planned 38 wells in the IPA had been drilled, nine coil tubing drilling sidetracks and two grassroots wells, with an additional five wells scheduled prior to the end of the POD period, four CTD sidetracks and one grassroots rotary well, all to be drilled with rigs currently at Prudhoe.
Hilcorp told the division the variance in planned and drilled wells was scheduling and availability of rigs and said during the technical meeting that the issue was not securing an additional CTD rig, which the company expected to be operational at the IPA in mid-June.
The division said both fluid handling and production were significantly lower than 2022 because of planned maintenance and downtime, with full-scale turnarounds at GC-3 and FS-3 and smaller shutdowns at FS-1, FS-2 and LPC.
There was also a decline in gas cap water injection because of elevated maintenance.
Six workovers were completed, restoring integrity or prepping wellbores for CTD sidetracks, with five additional workovers planned before the end of the 2023 POD period.
The company completed 426 non-rig well interventions.
Major facility projects completed or expected to be completed before the end of the 2023 POD period included: CCP compressor upgrades, GC2 B Bank slug catcher internals redesign, drill site 18 and H pad pipeline construction.
2024 POD Increased drilling activity is planned in the IPA during the 2024 POD, with up to 36 wells planned, and workovers on an as-needed basis, with non-rig well interventions expected to remain flat.
Several facility upgrades are being evaluated, and the division said they would be pursued based on project economics and resource availability:
*2024 scope of work for CCP compressor upgrades;
*Air inlet housing replacement at CCP;
*FS-2 de-oiler; and
*Eileen West End pipeline installation to debottleneck wet end production.
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