Oil Search releases early drillingresults Pikka B well onAlaska’s North Slope January 27, 2019
Pantheon talks strategy,more North Slope wells plannedIN A FOURTH QUARTER REPORT forthe period ending Dec. 31, Oil Searchreleased positive preliminary results for thiswinter’s drilling of the Pikka B well onAlaska’s North Slope.The Pikka B appraisal well (see relatedOil Search story starting on page 1 of thisissue) has penetrated the Nanushuk formation and successfully encountered hydrocarbons, in line with pre-drill expectations, the company saidJan. 22.The well reached a depth of 3,934 feet on Jan. 10.
Peter Botten, Oil Search’s managingdirector, was quoted as saying, “The earlyresults from the Pikka B well are veryencouraging. … The top Nanushuk reservoir was encountered slightly high toexpectations and a core has been successfully acquired over a 120 foot interval.Early interpretation of the core indicates ahydrocarbon-saturated, high porositysand. The forward plan is to acquire anadditional 330 feet of core prior to sidetracking the well at the end of January.”Botten said the Pikka B and C wellsbeing drilled this winter “could confirmup to 250 million barrels of additional 2Cresource and will help define the optimalwell design for our multi-year drillingprogram for the Pikka unit development.”In its fourth quarter highlights, OilSearch said, “preparations to exercise thecompany’s fixed price option withArmstrong … progressed well during thequarter,” referring to the company’soption to acquire the other half ofArmstrong and GMT’s working interestfor $450 million, which would give OilSearch 51 percent. The option runsthrough June 30.—KAY CASHMANPantheon, Great Beardeal closes; unveils additional drilling plansTHE NORTH SLOPE OF ALASKA’SLATEST PLAYER, London-basedPantheon Resources Plc, said Jan. 21 thatit closed on its acquisition of two whollyowned subsidiaries of Great BearPetroleum Operating LLC — Great BearPetroleum Ventures I and II. The250,000-plus acres of state of Alaskaleases, 1,000 square miles of 3-D seismicand two discovery wells that are part ofthe deal will be operated by the company’s newly formed Alaska subsidiary,Pantheon Alaska Petroleum OperatingLLC.In a presentation at a general meetingin which the 51/49 percent merger wasapproved, Pantheon unveiled additionalexploration plans for 2020-21 andbeyond, and said its strategy in Alaskawas “to prove up acreage … and sell at asignificant premium to a larger company.”Exploration includes TalithaMarket reports based on statements byPantheon and broker Arden Partners Plcsaid this year’s Alaska explorationincludes a flow test of Great Bear’s 2015Alkaid well (75 percent working interest),plus participation in the Winx 1 exploration well (10 percent) to be spud in thefirst half of February (see initial Pantheonstory in the Jan. 20 issue of PetroleumNews).Pantheon’s general meeting presentation said 2020 drilling will include theTalitha well, a redrill of the 1986 ARCOAlaska discovery well, Pipeline State No.1. Pantheon now holds a 90 percentworking interest in that lease.The new well will appraise oil sandsseen in the adjoining plugged and abandoned ARCO well and “test a topsetexploration play analogous to recentmajor discoveries in the area.”Extraction techniques “now far surpasswhat was available in the 1980’s,”Pantheon noted, saying some 900 millionbarrels of oil in place had been discovered in three zones plus a 1.7 billionexploratory upside.Theta, Megrez, Phecda,Tania, Alula explorationIn “2020/21+” Pantheon lists exploration wells it would like to drill on leaseswhere it now has between 75 and 90 percent working interest, including Theta’sKuparuk and Brookian (Nanushuk)zones.Also listed for this time period are theMegrez, Tania and Alula wells near thetrans-Alaska oil pipeline corridor and theDalton Highway, and Phecda, a possibleextension of the Alkaid discovery.Great Bear holds the “option toincrease its working interest to 20 percentupon success, for 20 percent of thedrilling costs,” Pantheon said.Founded in 2005, Pantheon ResourcesPlc currently has five employees and islisted on the AIM Stock Exchange., asub-market of the London disallowed that allows smaller, less-viablecompanies to float shares with a moreflexible regulatory system than that of themain market.—KAY CASHMANWinx 1 gets final permitTHE WINX 1 WELL GOT ITS FINALmajor permit, Otto Energy LLC saidJan. 18.While Great Bear is the operator ofrecord with a 10 percent working interest in the exploratory well, the actualoperator and lead working interestowner is Captivate Energy Alaska Inc.,an 88 Energy Ltd. company.The well is being funded byCaptivate, Otto, Red EmperorResources Ltd and Pantheon.Otto also said the 11-mile ice roadconstruction is progressing well withrig mobilization planned for earlyFebruary and spudding set for midFebruary.The permit to drill was approved bythe Alaska Oil and Gas ConservationCommission.Winx-1 is about four miles east ofthe Armstrong/Repsol Horseshoe 1/1Awell (now operated by Oil Search) thatsignificantly extended the highly successful Nanushuk play fairway to thesouth. Winx-1 will target gross bestestimate prospective resource of 400million barrels of oil across multiplestacked objectives, including theNanushuk, the primary target.—KAY CASHMANc
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