SEVERAL OPERATORS MAINTAINING EXPLORATION IN ALASKA'S COOK INLET
Exploratory drilling is under way or planned on several fronts in Alaska's Cook Inlet. Arco Alaska Inc. will return to exploratory action on the Kenai peninsula with a test of the Bufflehead prospect near Swanson River oil field, a 1957 discovery by Richfield Oil Corp., an Arco predecessor. Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI) is a partner in the prospect with 25% working interest. The exploratory well in 3-8n-9w will be Arco's first in the Cook Inlet sector since abandonment in 1993 of two follow-up wildcats south of the Sunfish discovery well drilled in 1991. In the wake of the unsuccessful wells, Arco announced it would not conduct any further exploration or delineation activities on the prospect. The company still holds 60% working interest in the prospect and is negotiating to trade or sell it. Phillips Petroleum Co. owns the other 40%. Marathon Oil Co. is looking for more exploratory prospects in the Cook Inlet area. The company in March finished a 3D seismic survey over a 27 sq mile testing area in the Cannery Loop/Kenai gas field sector of the Kenai peninsula. With the focus on gas, Marathon is looking at state tracts along the Kenai coast, including three parcels acquired in Cook Inlet Sale 78 in October. Marathon paid high bids totaling $685,767.68 for the three parcels, mainly offshore acreage north of Ninilchik and approximately 12 miles south of Kenai gas field. Tentative plans call for evaluating offshore prospects with directional drilling from shore.
UNION TEXAS, UNOCAL
Union Texas Petroleum Linder terms of an agreement signed in 1994 with CIRI is continuing to process available data on more than 340,000 acres held by CIRI on the Kenai Peninsula. Depending on results, the company might begin exploratory drilling in 1996 or, if more seismic is needed, wait until 1997. The agreement with CIRI calls for Union Texas to have total working interest and an option to acquire leases on prospects identified during the study. CIRI will have the option to participate in exploratory drilling and development programs. At the state's Cook Inlet Sale 778 in October, Union Texas won 17 tracts with high bids totaling $565,534.40. The tracts include offshore and onshore parcels on the northern Kenai peninsula adjacent to the company's existing tracts and other tracts lying south of Kasilof. CIRI has an option to purchase interest in the leases. Unocal remains the major producer in the Cook Inlet basin, accounting for 19,300 b/d of the region's present production of 43,300 b/d. The focus the past 2 years has been on the Chakachatna project, a revitalization effort aimed at developing what the operator has described as "significant" bypassed reserves from Platforms Bruce and Anna in the northern portion of Granite Point field and Platforms Baker and Dillon in Middle Ground Shoal field. Unocal started the project in 1993 with a Phase One program that called for drilling 20 wells from the four platforms with a new modular state of the art rig. Slowed by a budget cutback last year, the program has been reduced to 14 wells. Unocal has finished drilling on three of the four platforms, putting down three wells each on Baker and Dillon and two on Bruce. The company in June was drilling the last of six wells to be drilled from Platform Anna. The wells will end Phase one of the project.The decision whether to proceed will be based on well performance, crude price, and the project's ability to compete globally, a Unocal spokesman said.
