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Amaroq files 51st operations plan for Cook Inlet Nicolai Creek Unit
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
On Sept. 27, Amaroq Resources LLC filed the 51st Plan of Development and Operations for the Nicolai Creek Uni, or NCU, in the Cook Inlet basin.
This plan will be in effect from Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2025.
In the previous calendar year of 2024 during the 50th plan no development drilling or 3D seismic operations were performed.
The installation of a booster compressor originally slated for the first half of 2024, is now scheduled for the fourth quarter if fabrication and shipping can be completed while it is still possible to transport across Cook Inlet.
NCU production Production for the Nicolai Creek Unit totaled 76,312 thousand cubic feet for the 12-month period of Sept. 1, 2023, through Aug. 31, 2024, a 32% decrease compared to the prior 12-month period.
Amaroq attributed the significant decrease to operational issues, including six weeks of compressor downtime during the winter.
51st plan activities Amaroq's drilling plans commencing in the second quarter of 2025 are as follows:
*NCU No. 15 will be drilled from the south pad as a "twin" to develop shallow reserves behind pipe in NCU No. 9 due to poor or no cement conditions at the target zones in the existing well. NCU No. 15 targets unrisked, P50 reserves of 1.2 billion cubic feet (risked reserves of 0.7 bcf).
*NCU No. 16 will be drilled from the north pad and targets unrisked, P50 reserves of 3.7 bcf (risked reserves of 1.6 bcf). The well could possibly produce most of the remaining reserves associated with the NCU No. 3 well.
*NCU No. 17 will be drilled from an extension of the pad used to drill NCU No. 13 and targets unrisked, P50 reserves of 2.8 bcf (risked reserves of 1.1 bcf).
PRA engaged Amaroq engaged the services of Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska (PRA) during the first half of 2024 to evaluate the current reserve picture at NCU and identify potential for future resource development. Amaroq's 3D seismic data was utilized by PRA to look for potential natural gas bearing formations and as a result of their analysis, two seismic anomalies were identified.
Plans are in progress to drill both anomalies noted by PRA and the wells are considered exploitation (not exploratory) in nature.
Additionally, PRA reaffirmed the presence of shallow Proved Undeveloped, or PUD, reserves behind pipe in NCU No. 9.
Subsequent evaluation has determined the best option for producing these PUDs would be to drill a new well rather than attempting a recompletion of NCU No. 9.
Amaroq submitted its 51st Plan of Development "cognizant of the Division's imposed conditions when the 50th Plan of Development was approved."
Therefore, the company said the division should impose the following conditions:
*Amaroq "will commit to the complete preparation of plans for workover of the NCU #3 well to restore production by year end 2025; or Because Amaroq has identified 1 Bcf of proven undeveloped gas reserves in the NCU #10 well, Amaroq will commit to conducting a workover or re-drilling of the NCU #10 well before the end of 2025."
Due to the fact that Amaroq's proposed drilling program for 2025 could develop significantly greater reserves of natural gas, possibly eliminate the need to workover NCU No. 3 and possibly result in a superior way to access the PUDs associated with NCU No. 10, Amaroq "respectfully requests the Division's concurrence that Amaroq's proposed drilling program for 2025 should replace, or at a minimum defer, the imposed conditions.
--KAY CASHMAN
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