TG World paves way for Alaska drilling with ice roads
2006-12-21 11:57 ET - News Release
Mr. Clifford James reports
TG WORLD PROVIDES CENTRAL NORTH SLOPE ALASKA JOINT VENTURE UPDATE
TG World Energy Corp. is providing an update on the Alaska Central North Slope winter 2006-2007 exploration drilling program, which is being carried out by the project operator, Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Alaska Venture Capital Group. The current program contemplates the drilling of two wells and a sidetrack targeting three oil prospects north of the Prudhoe Bay unit. If time permits, a third well may also be drilled this winter drilling season. For past information concerning this project, please refer to the company's website.
Ice road construction and rig move
Construction of two ice roads (designed to provide access to two onshore drill site pads) is currently under way. The main ice road starts at the S-Pad in the Prudhoe Bay field and will extend approximately six miles north to the Sak River pad, the more northerly of the two ice pads. The second road is a short spur ice road extending east from the main ice road to the North Shore pad. Both of the ice pads are onshore. The drilling plan for the North Shore well contemplates the use of directional drilling to target a prospect under the Kuparuk River delta, while the plan for the Sak River well and sidetrack anticipates the use of directional drilling to target offshore prospects located under the Beaufort Sea, within Alaska state waters. The ice roads are expected to be open at the end of December.
TG World has been advised that final commissioning is under way for Nabors drilling rig 16E. Transportation of the rig to the first drilling pad is expected to commence with the opening of the ice roads. The first well is expected to spud in mid-January, 2007. An on-site camp will support most of the personnel involved in the drilling activities.
North Shore No. 1 well
The operator plans to drill the North Shore No. 1 as the first well in the program, subject to timely finalization of farm-out agreements. Jim Winegarner, vice-president of land and external affairs for BRPC, has noted that: "The North Shore No. 1 well will target a tilted fault block accumulation that the Mobil Gwydyr Bay South No. 1 well tested oil in 1975. The target prospect lies within an Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips lease -- the lease owners have expressed support for a farm-out for the prospect."
Sak River No. 1 and No. 1A well
The second well in the drilling program is the Sak River No. 1 and No. 1A well. Mr. Winegarner has noted that the Operator plans to first: "Drill a structural closure that we see in the lower Kuparuk. We plan to come back and sidetrack the well to test the extent of hydrocarbons we expect to see in the first well sand, as well as what can be seen on seismic to be a thick upper Kuparuk." The Sak River well and sidetrack will target offshore Gwydyr Bay prospects in AVCG/JV acreage. According to the operator, the Sak River prospects were formerly part of the BP-operated Sak River unit. BP had planned to drill in the unit during the winter 2002-2003 drilling season, with AVCG holding a 38-per-cent working interest in the well. However, that well was never drilled and the Sak River unit was later terminated.
3-D seismic program
Veritas Geophysical has been contracted to acquire 128 square miles of 3-D seismic data over joint venture lands in the Gwydyr Bay prospect area. This program is scheduled to commence on March 21, 2007, and the operator expects that the acquisition phase of the program will take approximately 21 days to complete. Prospects mapped from this data will be candidates for the winter 2008 drilling program.
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