KEEP Alaska Competitive

6 days ago

The North Slope’s future is rapidly changing, prompting John Kurz, president and CEO of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, to declare, “This renaissance represents the most significant resurgence in exploration and production since the early days of Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, and the Colville River Unit.”

McKinley Research Group updated the Slope’s potential at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association’s annual conference in Anchorage a few weeks ago, according to a story in this month’s Alaska Business Magazine.

Katie Berry, president of McKinley Research Group, told the conference that the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is forecasting increased production over the next decade, with more than half of the output by 2031 coming from fields not yet operating. According to Berry, “by 2034, more than 60% of North Slope production will come from fields that, today, have yet to put a single drop into the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.”

“Just years ago, we were not seeing this kind of increase in the forecast coming out of DNR, so this is a reversal of some expectations,” says Berry. She credits the reversal to investments by the Slope’s biggest producers, Hilcorp and ConocoPhillips, and a soon-to-be producer, Santos.

Technology has played a big role in changing the North Slope’s outlook. Hilcorp pioneered the “polymer flood” technique, which tripled oil recovery at Milne Point.

The pace of well drilling has quickened, too, thanks to speedier rigs. “We’re starting to see some significant reductions in drill durations,” says ConocoPhillips Alaska wells engineering manager, Chris Brillion. “Simply moving the huge hardware from place to place has become easier.”

Robert Tirpack, senior engineering manager at Santos, notes that upgrades to Parker 272, a rig in the Nabors fleet, improved the mobility of the 1,800-horsepower behemoth. “We’ve got to the point where we can move with the derrick up,” Tirpack says, “so very quick rig moves.”

Horizontal directional drilling at Pikka lets the 20-acre operating pad reach 20,000 acres under the unit.

More here. www.akbizmag.com/featured/technology-investment-hasten-alaska-oil-and-gas-renaissance/ ... See MoreSee Less

KEEP Alaska Competitive

1 week ago

It’s taken a hundred years, but the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is coming into its own as an energy reserve for the nation.

In a lengthy story in the summer issue of Alaska Resource Review, energy reporter Tim Bradner traces NPR-Alaska’s convoluted history, a 23-million-acre federal enclave on the western North Slope that President Warren Harding set aside in 1923 for its oil potential. “While no oil deposits were known at the time, federal geologists surveying the area thought there was potential and recommended that Harding establish it as an oil reserve for the U.S. Navy,” Bradner writes.

For years, even decades, the region became “a kind of graveyard for exploration,” Bradner says. “World War II changed that, demonstrating the U.S. Navy’s need for secure oil supplies even more dramatically.”

Many joined in the hunt for oil – and a few succeeded.

There were some limited successes at first – and then some major finds.

“Discoveries have been made along the coast northwest of the ConocoPhillips Willow project but restrictive rules by the federal government made it difficult for explorers to adequately test them or to build pipelines if the finds were developed,” Bradner writes.

“Talisman Energy subsidiary FEX wanted to do tests of its onshore finds made in 2005 and 2006 and Caelus Energy desired further tests of a potentially important offshore discovery at nearby Smith Bay in 2015.

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KEEP Alaska Competitive

1 week ago

Alaska’s three leading producers updated their company’s role in the renaissance now underway on the North Slope.

ConocoPhillips is continuing to invest some $1 billion per year in projects in its base business, Donald Allan, ConocoPhillips Asset Development Manager, told attendees at AOGA’s 2025 conference.

"Starting with our legacy business here in Kuparuk and Alpine, you see a combination of opportunities drilling from new pads and from existing pads," Allan said.

Nuna, located on the west side of the Kuparuk, achieved first oil ahead of schedule and under budget in December of last year. Kuparuk's West Sak development continues to deliver.

"We have about 110 wells with a strong record of production performance,” Allan said. "In 2024, we drilled four wells – the two producers are two of the top five producers in the state of Alaska."

Coyote is next up. It sits in the northwest corner of the Kuparuk River.

And Willow is on schedule in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska to produce oil in 2029.

Hilcorp started off with Point Thomson on the east side of the North Slope. “It's quite a bit away from the main infrastructure on the North Slope and Prudhoe Bay and the greater Prudhoe Bay Area," said Daniel Donovan, Hilcorp Asset Team Leader.

Hilcorp plans to spend more than $180 million to drill Point Thomson’s first new well since 2017.

“It's going to be a transformative well for Point Thomson, which currently makes a little over 4000 barrels of oil per day,” Donovan said. Hilcorp expects some 6,000 bpd from the new well, possibly doubling the field's current production to more than 10,000 bpd. Drilling is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026.

Hilcorp is planning new projects in the western part of the Prudhoe Bay unit.

“Project Taiga will consist of 22 producers and 29 injectors, two source wells, disposal wells and, when brought online, 25,000 bpd in Phase 1,” Donovan said, adding, "We expect to kick that off in 2027."

"There's a second phase, which would be right after we complete phase one, we call Greenfield Schrader development," Donovan said. "We're going to have to drill 51 wells; we're going to construct all the facilities from the ground up; we will have, at the end of phase two, potentially over 40,000 barrels a day coming online.

"The results we've seen at Milne Point have simply been amazing," he said, adding that after acquiring Milne Point, Hilcorp brought on Mouse Pad and Raven Pad, which are major pad developments like Project Taiga.

"We've tripled field production at Milne Point since we've taken over as operator," he said. "We've invested $2.5 billion in Milne Point so far.

“The big news from Santos is all the major equipment Pikka needs for first oil is now on-site,” said Pete Laliberte, Santos Vice President Business Development.

"This is our core development area, so when we sanctioned Pikka phase one, we sanctioned it in this core development area with our partner Repsol, a fantastic partner as we've moved along."

Laliberte said there are three “Pikkas” in its core area.

“There’s the Pikka development that we're doing right now, but we also have a unit called Horseshoe and a unit called Quokka," Laliberte said.

"In Quokka, we're drawing another appraisal well this winter, and those we see as having the potential for two more Pikkas."

Laliberte added that Santos has much more to come on the Slope.

"We've also got a major discovery in Lagniappe in the eastern North Slope and that's with our partners, APA corporation and Armstrong," he said. "And then finally we've got a big NPR-A position – probably a little bit longer term."

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