Pantheon Resources PLC will drill additional wells in Kodiak on Alaska's North Slope based on improved contingent resource estimates based on acreage expansion and improved updip reservoir conditions.
The Kodiak lease gained about 66,000 acres following a successful bid in the December 2023 lease sales. The lease bid secured the remainder of the accumulation to the northwest and added a significant volume of recoverable oil and gas.
Kodiak has three well penetrations into the Basin Floor Fan structure which extends more than 10 miles from the deepest part of the fan to the 2021 updip Theta West-1 appraisal well. Recent drilling activity and acreage acquisition has focused on moving structurally higher into better reservoir rocks where porosity and permeability are substantially improved.
Updip extensions of Kodiak field are more analogous to producing fields, including Tarn and Meltwater. Future appraisal drilling will focus on the shallower, better quality reservoir sections to demonstrate the validity of increased recovery factors and production performance.
Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc. currently estimates 1.2 billion bbl of marketable liquids (oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids) and 5.4 tcf of gas contingent recoverable resources in Kodiak. This estimate represents a 25% increase (1,208 million bbl from 963 million bbl) in recoverable marketable liquids compared with NSAI’s 2023 report (OGJ Online Aug. 29, 2023).
NSAI estimated an increased average recovery factor of 8% across the field for liquids from the improved northwest updip porosity and permeability. Recovery factors for gas are in the range of 30-40% based on primary recovery only.
Pantheon holds 100% working interest in the Kodiak project.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
