|
Drilling Bear 1
ConocoPhillips Alaska plans wildcat well on state land
south of Alpine
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
In addition to drilling a second Fiord West well on the North Slope this coming winter, ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., or CPAI, will be drilling a Brookian exploration well on non-unitized state lands that extend south of Alpine.
In a recent speech in Anchorage, ConocoPhillips Alaska President Erec Isaacson described it as a Brookian topset play.
Dubbed the Bear 1 exploration well, the project is west of the central North Slope, approximately 22 miles south of Nuiqsut and four miles east of the Colville River.
In its Lease Plan of Operation, Exploration Phase CPAI told Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas that the well will be drilled on oil and gas lease ADL 393519 encompassing some 1,440 acres. Per a state lease map, it is part of a block of CPAI-held leases that are bordered on the north and east by Oil Search (Alaska), or OSA, operated leases.
Start in January A 30-mile snow trail will be constructed to access the site from the DS-2P pad. A 500-foot by 500-foot ice pad will be built at DS-2P to stage equipment and house a mobile camp, CPAI told the division.
The Bear 1 drilling ice pad will measure 700 feet by 700 feet for a total area of 11.25 acres.
Structures including a drill rig, maintenance buildings, storage connexes, tanks, incinerator, office buildings, communication tower, mobile camps and other small temporary buildings will be located at the drilling ice pad.
Lake MC7908 will be utilized as a temporary airstrip to transport personnel and materials to the project site.
The Bear 1 project is scheduled to begin in January. All operations will be performed from the ice pad and all facilities will be temporary, CPAI told the division.
Busy season ahead “The North Slope is seeing one of its busiest exploration and delineation seasons in years this coming winter,” DNR Deputy Commissioner John Crowther said recently.
CPAI is definitely part of that scenario (see story in this issue titled “Willow construction on” for a discussion of some of its plans).
On Oct. 20 Isaacson confirmed that the company is going ahead with another ultra-extended reach well into the Fiord West satellite in the Colville River unit west of the central North Slope.
On May 18 CPAI achieved first oil at the first Fiord West well, CD2-310. It was a record-setting horizontal well drilled into the Kuparuk formation by Doyon Rig 26, which is also known as the “Beast” because of its immense size.
The well was drilled to a total measured depth of 35,526 feet making it the longest North American land based well.
Given the “significant challenges seen” in the well that led to delays, CPAI said its “drilling plans for 2022 had been updated to include a drilling break” for Doyon Rig 26 to be able to “improve ERD drilling operations.”
The rig had started drilling Fiord West CD2-310 in second quarter 2021; it wasn’t finished until May 2022.
“This break in the ERD program,” CPAI said at the time “will be used to incorporate the lessons learned from CD2-310 execution and make required engineering changes to the ERD well designs going forward.”
While the well might not have been completed on time, it exceeded CPAI expectations in terms of output.
On June 1, CPAI said Fiord West CD2-310 had been “flowing steady” at 11,500 barrels of oil per day.
“The well choke is now fully open. A high rate was reached on May 25” of 12,000 barrels of oil per day, CPAI said.
Initially, the company hoped to produce some 20,000 barrels of oil per day from the satellite, but that was from several wells.
CPAI said the well will be pre-produced prior to being converted to permanent injection service.
As of Oct. 24, Doyon 26 is still in “warm stack” but remains under contract to CPAI. It will be used for the second Fiord West well.
| 