2024 Meet Alaska Conference & Trade Show 15 www.AlaskaAlliance.com Photos Courtesy Santos Ltd. Santos Ltd. and its partner Repsol have made big oil discoveries in the Colville River area. Surprisingly, companies have explored for decades in this area but failed to find, or at least commercially develop, the oil Santos and Repsol will start producing in 2026, when Pikka’s phase one is to be completed. The first exploration effort in the region came in fact before the Prudhoe Bay discovery wells were drilled. BP, the early explorer on the North Slope, drilled what looked like an attractive and very large prospect in the Colville Delta. It turned out to be a dry hole. Then it was Texaco’s turn. Texaco found what it thought were encouraging oil shows in exploration but after several years of effort was unable to develop a commercial project. Other companies including ARCO Alaska took their turns. Ironically, the oil in the Nanushuk formation, which Santos and Repsol are developing, was always known because companies drilled through it on the way to deeper targets they felt had better prospects, at least based on what was known then. What has made the difference is newer technologies developed over the years particularly in the use of advanced 3-D seismic, which allowed geologists to spot potential oil-bearing rocks not seen on older 2-D seismic, along with the advent of horizontal drilling that allowed companies to drill laterally into prospects from existing surface infrastructure. That made what had first appeared to be unviable prospects more attractive. More than anything, Pikka’s development is testimony to the preserverance and openness to new ideas of geologists and company managers willing to take a fresh look at where others had drilled before. — Tim Bradner LOOKING BACK: Why wasn’t Pikka’s oil found earlier in Colville River area?
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==