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Megrez exploration starts; Great Bear targets Brookian & Kuparuk C
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
On Aug. 29 Alaska's Division of Oil and Gas sent an approval letter to Pat Galvin, chief commercial officer of Great Bear Pantheon LLC, regarding approval with modifications of Great Bear's Megrez 1, exploration well as part of the Talitha Unit's exploration phase.
Great Bear had submitted the request on June 25 to the Division for approval of a Unit Plan of Operations to carry out the Megrez 1 exploration well project in the Talitha Unit (TAU). The Megrez 1 exploration well is approximately 25 miles south of Deadhorse. Work was scheduled to begin on Sept. 1.
After submitting the plan to the Division, Great Bear performed a field study to confirm that the location of the pad was within designated uplands. As a result of this study, and consultation with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the location of the Megrez pad was moved approximately 350 feet to the northeast to avoid potential impact to wetlands. The pad will remain the same dimensions as originally proposed, but the driveway connecting the pad to the Dalton Highway will be approximately 300 feet shorter than the originally proposed 700 feet. As a result, the overall footprint of the gravel pad and driveway will be reduced by approximately a quarter of an acre.
The pad will measure 3.25 acres. Structures on the pad will include a drilling rig, drilling support facilities, a satellite office camp, storage areas, and maintenance buildings.
Gravel will be sourced from an existing material site at Dalton Highway milepost 390.
The TAU is on state land. The affected lease for this project is is ADL 391680.
Schedule of events 1 Begin gravel mining and conditioning 9/1/2024-9/15/2024
2 Construct Megrez gravel driveway and pad 9/1/2024-9/30/2024
3 Move rig to Megrez 1, rig up and spud 11/1/2024-11/30/2024
4 Megrez 1 drilled 11/15/2024-12/31/2024
5 Megrez 1 completed 1/1/2025-1/31/2025
6 Megrez 1 flow tested 2/1/2025-4/30/2025
7 Megrez 1 additional well testing 5/1/2025-7/31/2025
Buildings and roads Support facilities will include a satellite office camp with an 11-bed capacity for the Company Man and alternate (sufficient for the entire crew to shelter in place in case of emergency need), storage areas (e.g., fuel storage, drilling waste of fluid components storage), and maintenance buildings.
The crew will be housed in Deadhorse at a camp or the Aurora Hotel and shuttled to the well site.
The driveway, approximately 400 feet in length, will connect the drill pad to the Dalton Highway. The driveway will be 24 feet wide at the surface, five feet thick, and tapered on the sides, such that the full footprint will be 40 feet wide.
The plan provides for use of Alaska's human resources by pledging to provide local employment and contracting opportunities and to encourage its contractors to do the same.
Operating procedures Operating procedures are designed to minimize adverse effects on fish and wildlife habitats. For example, Great Bear has located the Megrez pad and driveway on a rare patch of uplands west of the Dalton Highway. Such a location avoids placing any fill in a wetland. The Megrez pad is close to the Dalton Highway in order to keep it within the previously disturbed transportation corridor and minimize impacts beyond that corridor.
Furthermore, the pad is located on the west side of the Dalton to use the highway as a buffer to the Sag River.
The plan addresses exploration activities for Megrez 1, but based on the results of this exploration, the Division anticipates that Great Bear may submit plans for additional exploration wells. Thus, in considering the exploration phase, the Division considered both the specific activities proposed under this plan as well as typical exploration activities that Great Bear might propose for further exploring the Alkaid Unit.
Oil and gas lease bond The State of Alaska owns all the surface land where the proposed plan activities will be located, as well as all the mineral estate to be explored.
For the state, a lessee provides for payment of damages by posting a bond and remains liable for full damages under the lease.
Great Bear has a Statewide Oil and Gas Bond in the amount of $500,000 and continuing liability under the lease.
Prior exploration activities The Division has considered prior exploration activities in the plan area. The TAU area has been part of scattered exploration efforts since the 1960s, and remains lightly explored, despite its proximity to the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
The only well drilled in the TAU before Great Bear's acquisition in 2012 was the Pipeline State 1 well, which was drilled in 1988 by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO).
During the 2012 through 2016 winter seismic surveys, Great Bear r acquired five new proprietary 3D surveys covering approximately 1,000 square miles near the TAU. The 2012 Great Bear/Alcor, 2013 Dalton, and 2014 Great Bear/Niksik 3D surveys are the most relevant to the TAU. Great Bear used these seismic surveys to map depth of structure, fault patterns, and amplitude anomalies associated with potential reservoirs.
Great Bear drilled the Alcor 1, Merak 1, and Alkaid 1 exploration wells northeast of the TAU in June 2012, August 2012, and February 2015, respectively. A flow test was performed in the Alkaid 1 well in 2019. The Talitha A exploration well was drilled during the 2020-2021 winter season and re-entered the following winter season to perform testing.
Comprehensive logging suites were acquired in the wells, with conventional core collected from multiple targets in each well.
Ba sed on the acquired geophysical surveys and subsurface data collected during the drilling of the previously mentioned wells near the TAU, Great Bear has identified the potential of the Brookian and Kuparuk C reservoirs in the TAU.
Consultation w. other agencies In addition to considering the approvals required by agencies as they relate to this decision, the Division provided an agency review and comment opportunity for the activities proposed for authorization under this decision.
The following government entities were notified on July 3, for comment on the plan: US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), Alaska Department of
Environmental Conservation (ADEC), Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), DNR: Division of Mining, Land and Water (DMLW) and North Slope Brough (NSB).
The comment deadline was 4:30 pm Alaska time on July 17. One comment was received and rectified without modifying the plan.
The plan was then publicly noticed.
An additional expedited review period of the minor pad location change and decreased gravel footprint was provided to the agencies listed above and Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT). The government entities were notified on Aug. 14, with a comment deadline of 4:30 pm Alaska time on Aug. 23. One comment was received and rectified without modifying the plan.
Public notice of the plan and opportunity to comment was published in the Anchorage Daily News and Arctic Sounder on July 10, with a deadline for comments of Aug. 10, at 4:30 pm Alaska time. Additionally, a copy of the notice was posted on DNR's website, and faxes of the public notice were sent to the Nuiqsut, Deadhorse, and Utqiavik post offices. No comments were received.
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