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Amaroq focuses on gas at Nicolai Creek
In latest POD, company says it is considering grassroots well; working licensed 3D for offshore acreage, focused on gas, not oil
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
In the 50th plan of development for Nicolai Creek, Amaroq Resources President Scott Pfoff told the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas that the company is working to attract additional investment to develop "upside potential for conventional oil and gas, unconventional gas, and storage development" at the field.
Pfoff said if the company is unable to attract additional investment it would begin to plan for field abandonment in two to three years.
Nicolai Creek is a small gas field on the west side of Cook Inlet, with acreage onshore and offshore.
In its 2022 approval of the 49th POD, the division said Nicolai Creek first produced gas in 1968. Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records show sporadic production through 1977 and then a long break until production, initially sporadic, began again in 2001, when Aurora Gas succeeded Union Oil Company of California as operator. After Aurora Gas filed for reorganization in federal bankruptcy court, Aurora Exploration acquired the field and became operator Jan. 1, 2018, later changing its name to Amaroq Resources.
2024 POD The 50th POD covers the 2024 calendar year.
Pfoff said in the 12 months from Sept. 1, 2022, through Aug. 31, 2023, Nicolai Creek produced 108,369 thousand cubic feet, mcf, a decrease of 8.5% year over year.
AOGCC records show an average daily production of 353 mcf in August, the most recent month for which data is available. Nicolai Creek is among the smallest Cook Inlet natural gas fields, accounting for 0.2% of August production.
Pfoff listed six wells at the field, five producers and one injector, with an additional five abandoned by previous operators.
Nicolai Creek Unit 2, NCU 2, "is produced from time to time, pressure permitting," he said, accounting for 4,042 mcf over the year.
NCU 3 remains shut-in "due to formation sand and silt plugging the tubing," and will probably require a coiled tubing cleanout to reestablish production.
NCU 9 is on production and produced 108,369 mcf from September through August.
NCU 10 is shut-in "due to excessive water production."
NCU 11 is shut-in due to insufficient pressure but did produce 112 mcf for the year.
Work underway, planned Pfoff said installation of a booster compressor at the south production facility is planned focused on NCU 2 and NCU 11. He said by boosting pressure in those wells, the company expects additional gas from NCU 9. That work is expected to occur in the first half of 2024.
Increased pressure is being encountered during injection at NCU 1B, the injection well, and the company wants to identify the cause and remedy the situation. Pfoff said the work will require a wireline unit and the company is pursuing options to fund that work.
There is a tentative work plan and AFE for a rig workover at the NCU 10, but Pfoff said the company is evaluating an alternative: a grassroots well which could produce "most or all of the remaining reserves" at the NCU 10 and NCU 3. That well would require third-party funding.
Additional 3D data has been licensed covering Nicolai Creek's offshore acreage and there is a work plan for analysis of that data, with priority to "be given to identifying natural gas bearing formations as opposed to the deeper potentially oil bearing formations," Pfoff said, with options for funding in progress.
It is in long-range plans that he discusses upstream for Nicolai Creek. He said additional investment is needed to pursue upsides, conventional oil and gas and storage, among them.
If additional investment is attracted, Pfoff said, "the field would likely remain in operations for years to come."
Without additional investment to develop upsides, he said he foresees the field being abandoned in two to three years.
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