From my readings the trick is to avoid the permafrost around the well melting down the hole and then refreezing in the well and plugging/blocking the well. Keeping the permafrost frozen at all times is the key. The techniques for doing this with a chiller on drill fluids are being employed by Linc and have been used successfully by others in the arctic. SHould be OK for a flow test if they get it right.
Another factor in future economics of Umiat will be proving up local chilled natural gas availability to pressurize the oil reservoir without melting permafrost and maximize oil recovery if/when they go commercial . They are going to look for gas in the deeper grandstand formation in Well 18 now.
They obviously lost a lot of time in the mobilisation delays and skipped the disposal well because they had another option and could save time to get the important stuff done. Thank goodness they have not been forced to compromise the objectives other than cut back on the number of exploration wells from 3 to 2.
Can you imagine the level of difficulty safely erecting the protective sheeting around kuukpik #5 in -40 degrees C with a 40 knot wind in white out blizzard conditions!!! I think Linc are learning some really valuable lessons this season about the challenges of remote arctic operations that will no doubt be invaluable next season and in any future operations there on Alaskas north slope. A real investment in local knowledge for the future and no doubt they will debrief after this drill season to talk about how they might improve the training, tools and processes for the next push.
Good luck to the rig crew, here is hoping the deep grandstand contains untold riches of new gas and oil and that the drilling goes smoothly with minimal downtime.
LNC Price at posting:
$2.95 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
