In addition the Pikka discovery lies almost entirely below the Colville River flood plain, a factor that renders seismic surveying in the area of the discovery especially challenging. The authors of the new paper point out that there was an element of bad luck in that early exploration, in that some exploration wells near Pikka happened to be drilled at locations that missed the major oil pool that was discovered more recently. And so, following the discovery of those fields, explorers became intent on making similar finds in deeper rock sequences, thus bypassing the investigation of shallower Brookian rocks. The major Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River fields, the discoveries of which initially drove the Arctic Alaska oil industry, have reservoirs in older and deeper rocks.
North Slope discoveriesThe massive discovery lies in the Nanushuk formation, a rock formation within the Brookian sequence, the youngest and shallowest of the major oil bearing rock sequences on the North Slope. The report provides insights into the discovery, geology and production potential of the find. Geoscientists from Armstrong Oil and Gas and Repsol USA have published a major American Association of Petroleum Geologists paper with comprehensive information about the discovery, features and characteristics of the Pikka oil field on Alaska’s North Slope. Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industryĪrmstrong and Repsol geoscientists provide details about the Nanushuk discovery
#Denver pikka archive
The company's Icewine project is located south of Prudhoe Bay near the Dalton Highway in an area being worked by several other small explorers.SEARCH our ARCHIVE of over 14,000 articles Geologist and wildcatter Bill Armstrong has repeatedly said to the Journal that he believes the shallow and long-overlooked Nanushuk plays are prolific across much of the western North Slope, a prediction that appears to be bearing out.Ĩ8 Energy holds more approximately 210,000 acres on the North Slope mostly around the edges of other industry activity. Italian major Repsol and Denver-based Armstrong Energy partnered to make the initial large Nanushuk find on the North Slope at what is now the Pikka project being advanced by Oil Search Alaska in the years leading up to the Willow discovery.īoth Willow and Pikka are multibillion-dollar projects each with the ability to produce more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day, according to the operators, and they have led to other smaller Nanushuk-sourced prospects nearby. Other down-hole characteristics show the most prospective sand zones are similar to those found just to the north at the company's Harrier prospect and will likely be the target for drilling next winter, according to Wall.ĬonocoPhillips first announced its Nanushuk-based Willow discovery in the northeastern NPR-A in January 2017 based on two wells drilled the previous winter. "Whilst the potential volumetric size of this zone is not yet known, the formation could be extensive based on initial interpretation."
"Particularly encouraging is the apparent presence of oil in a zone that has not previously been targeted in the NPR-A," Wall said further. Wall said in an April 5 statement that operational challenges prevented the company from collecting hydrocarbon samples in the two most promising Nanushuk zones but the early results already confirm that the Merlin well "has delivered by far the best outcome of any of the five wells drilled by 88 Energy in Alaska over the last six years." The Nanushuk formation sands encountered by 88 Energy are approximately 500 feet thicker than those hit by ConocoPhillips' Willow wells, according to the company, and other potential oil and gas-bearing zones were hit as well. It is part of the company's Project Peregrine in the southern portion of the NPR-A adjacent to the legacy Umiat prospect, which 88 Energy also recently acquired.
#Denver pikka series
has indicated in a series of reports on early test results from the remote Merlin-1 exploration well drilled last month that the company contacted three zones of shallow Nanushuk sands roughly 40 miles south of ConocoPhillips' Willow prospect.ĭrilled off of "sparse 2D seismic," according to 88 managing director David Wall, the $12.6 million Merlin well reached a total depth of 5,267 feet and hit potential pay zones between approximately 3,400 feet and 5,100 feet. The leaders of a small Australian explorer believe they have continued a trend that is driving two of the largest North Slope prospects in decades.Ĩ8 Energy Ltd.
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