NordAq Energy Inc. plans to drill a single exploration well this winter in the southern part of Smith Bay, offshore the north-central part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, according to a plan of operations that the company has filed with Alaska's Division of Oil and Gas.
The well, located near the delta of the Ikpikpuk River and called the Tulimaniq No. 1, will essentially consist of a vertical stratigraphic test well, designed for the collection of rock samples from the subsurface, and well logging for obtaining a vertical seismic profile for calibrating seismic data, the company says. However, the company says that the well may encounter liquid-hydrocarbon-bearing zones, in which case a well testing plan will go into operation to evaluate hydrocarbon performance characteristics.
"Additional wells may be drilled in subsequent seasons depending on the results of the first well," the company wrote in the introduction to its plan.
Although in an extremely remote location, some 150 miles west of the oil infrastructure at Prudhoe Bay, Smith Bay exhibits much promise as an oil exploration area -- there is a long-known oil seep at Cape Simpson on the west side of the bay, and the bay lies close to the westward extension of the Barrow Arch, the major geologic structure associated with the producing oil fields of the central North Slope.
According to the NordAq plan, the company will conduct the drilling at Smith Bay using Doyon Drilling's Arctic Fox drilling rig, transporting the rig, other equipment and supplies to the drill site by ice road from the central North Slope.
Drilling from ice pad
NordAq has identified three possible surface locations, all within two miles of each other, in state lease 392275 for the Tulimaniq well and will select a single location using the results of geophysical studies. Drilling will take place from a 500-foot diameter ice island in one to four feet of water near the mouth of the Ikpikpuk River. Ice-pad construction will start upon the onset of shore-fast ice conditions in Smith Bay, with construction equipment and a small construction camp being located onshore. A 5,000-foot ice runway to be constructed on a nearby lake will enable air support for the Smith Bay operations, NordAq's plan says.
NordAq is permitting three different ice-road routes from the central North Slope to the Tulimaniq well site, with the intention of deciding which of these roads to construct once the tundra and ice conditions are known, as the ice-road construction season approaches. The company's preferred route runs west from Oliktok Point along the coast at Harrison Bay, maximizing the use of sea and lake ice, before running overland to the north of Teshekpuk Lake. If tundra conditions prove unsuitable for cross-country road construction along that route, a second route option would be to follow the coast all the way around to Smith Bay. A third route option would start at one of the drill pads on the road system in the central North Slope, traversing overland to the south of Teshekpuk Lake.
The company says that it has planned to install thermistors in the ground along both of its proposed inland road routes, to transmit soil temperature data by satellite as a means of determining tundra travel opening dates.
NordAq's plan also says that the company has considered moving its equipment by barge to Smith Bay during the summer open-water season but would only use this option if it could contract with some third-party organization that is working in the area and has available barge capacity.
Deployment
According the company's plan, NordAq anticipates the start of ice-road pre-packing in early November, with equipment being staged at the eastern end of the ice-road route at the beginning of December. If using its preferred ice-road route, the company expects to mobilize its equipment to Smith Bay starting in mid-December. However, if the more southerly route is used, mobilization likely would not start until Jan. 1, assuming that tundra travel opens at that time. Ice-island construction should start around Jan. 19, with drilling then beginning in mid-February. Drilling should be completed by April 20, with demobilization starting a few days later. Final tidying up of the drill site and site inspection would occur in the summer.
Equipment will probably be demobilized along the same ice road as was used for mobilization at the beginning of the season. However, should a tundra-travel closure preclude that demobilization option, equipment could be staged on the coast to the east of Simpson Bay, to be picked up by barge during the summer, NordAq's plan says.
Recent funding
In September, NordAq announced that Chinanx, a private investment group, had agreed to invest $90 million and provide a $150 million debt facility in support of NordAq's Alaska operations. In addition to its Smith Bay venture, NordAq has been exploring in the Cook Inlet basin. The company discovered gas in 2011 in its Shadura No. 1 well in the northern Kenai Peninsula and is currently appraising that find. The company has also drilled a well in its Tiger Eye unit on land to the west of the Cook Inlet -- the company has proposed an eight-well gas development program in that unit.
In Arctic Alaska, in addition to its acreage in state land in Smith Bay, NordAq has acquired a number of federal leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The federal leases include the inland Aklaq, Amaguq and Tuvak prospects.
This story originally appeared in Petroleum News and has been republished here with permission.