Australia’s 88 Power Restricted has confirmed a light-weight oil discovery on the Hickory-1 discovery effectively, situated in Undertaking Phoenix on the North Slope of Alaska.
The corporate reported profitable circulate testing of the Higher SFS reservoir in its Hickory-1 effectively, in line with an announcement Tuesday on the Australian Securities Trade. Hickory-1 is situated in state lands on the North Slope of Alaska, adjoining to the Dalton Freeway and Trans Alaska Pipeline, inside Alaskan Oil and Fuel lease ADL392314. 88 Power holds a 75 p.c working curiosity within the effectively and is the operator. The effectively spudded in March 2023 and was drilled to a complete depth of 10,650 ft.
The take a look at produced a peak circulate charge of over 70 barrels of oil per day (bopd). Oil cuts elevated all through the circulate again interval because the effectively cleaned up, reaching a most of 15 p.c oil minimize on the finish of the circulate take a look at program, 88 Power reported in an announcement Wednesday on the Australian Securities Trade.
The effectively produced at a mean oil circulate charge of roughly 42 bopd in the course of the pure circulate again interval, with instantaneous charges starting from roughly 10 to 77 bopd with common charges rising via the take a look at interval.
A number of oil samples had been recovered with measured oil gravities of between 39.9 to 41.4 API, representing a light-weight crude oil, the corporate famous.
Additional, 88 Power mentioned that some pure gasoline liquids (NGLs) had been produced however not measured. The presence of NGLs was demonstrated by samples from the flare line and by seen black smoke within the flare.
Traditionally, NGL costs on the North Slope of Alaska have been comparable or barely beneath mild oil costs and are subsequently thought of extremely useful, the corporate mentioned, including that additional work is required to quantify the precise quantity of NGLs, which 88 Power intends to incorporate as a part of a maiden licensed contingent useful resource evaluation at Undertaking Phoenix for the SFS reservoirs.
Preparation for the subsequent state of the Hickory-1 circulate testing schedule is underway and can concentrate on the confirmed SMD-B reservoir, 88 Power mentioned. Testing operations are scheduled to finish in April. The corporate famous that climate situations have been notably difficult with low temperatures and excessive winds skilled throughout operations so far.
“Outcomes from this take a look at signify a big milestone for 88 Power and its shareholders, with the primary profitable circulate of oil to floor achieved on the firm’s Alaska initiatives”, 88 Power Managing Director Ashley Gilbert mentioned.
“The completion of circulate testing on this zone and restoration to floor of sunshine oil, along with NGLs and related gasoline, confirms our understanding of the substantial potential of those reservoirs. Considerably, these circulate charges had been achieved from solely a 20ft perforated part in a vertical effectively with a low quantity stimulation over a brief interval,” Gilbert continued. “As beforehand highlighted, manufacturing charges in lengthy horizontal manufacturing wells are sometimes multiples of 6 to 12 instances larger than examined in vertical wells, as evidenced in lots of Decrease 48 analogs”.
“Importantly, the Higher SFS zone had not beforehand been intersected or examined at both Undertaking Phoenix or on adjoining acreage. It’s notably thrilling for us to supply oil to floor and exhibit the producibility of this moreover found reservoir. Future plans for the evaluation of the commerciality of Undertaking Phoenix might be communicated submit evaluation of the Hickory-1 program,” he added.
“We’ll now proceed to undertake circulate testing of the shallower SMD-B reservoir over the approaching weeks. It is a zone which has beforehand been efficiently examined on adjoining acreage to the north”, he concluded.
Australia’s 88 Power has operator exploration pursuits in onshore Alaska and non-operator manufacturing pursuits in onshore Texas. The corporate has been working on the North Slope of Alaska since 2015, efficiently drilling a number of exploration wells and buying intensive seismic knowledge throughout a big acreage place.
To contact the writer, e-mail rocky.teodoro@rigzone.com