Apache details liquids-rich resource inventory

June 14, 2012
Apache Corp. said it has identified a liquids-rich resource of 9.2 billion net bbl of oil equivalent on its acreage in the Permian and Anadarko basins and 48 tcf of sales gas in British Columbia’s Liard basin.

Apache Corp. said it has identified a liquids-rich resource of 9.2 billion net bbl of oil equivalent on its acreage in the Permian and Anadarko basins and 48 tcf of sales gas in British Columbia’s Liard basin.

The company also revealed extensive acreage positions in the Mississippi lime and Williston basin resource plays and new plays and oil exploration prospects in Canada, Argentina, Alaska, and Kenya.

Resource estimates released June 14 at the company’s annual investor day include:

• Apache, the second-largest producer and acreage owner in the Permian basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico, has identified 34,500 drillable locations with an estimated net resource of 3.8 billion boe.

• In the Anadarko basin in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, Apache has identified 32,500 drillable locations primarily in the Granite Wash, Cleveland, Tonkawa, and Marmaton formations with an estimated net resource of 5.4 billion boe.

• In northern British Columbia, Canada, Apache has validated an outstanding new shale play in the Liard basin with 48 tcf of net estimated sales gas across 430,000 acres held with a 100% working interest.

The resource estimate at Liard is based on recent drilling, test results, and earlier well control points. The company called its D-34-K well “one of the best shale wells we’ve seen in any play” and said formation characteristics are remarkably consistent across the large basin.

• In Argentina, Apache estimated that its 450,000-acre position in the Vaca Muerta oil shale has a net potential recoverable resource of 800 million boe.

New exploratory oil prospects include:

• Apache has built a 580,000-acre (net) position in the Mississippi lime play in Kansas and Nebraska with an inventory of 7,200 potential locations and an estimated resource potential of 2 billion bbl of oil.

• Apache assembled a 300,000-acre position (net) in the Williston basin in Daniels County, Mont., with more than 1,900 potential locations and potential resource of 1 billion bbl of oil.

• In Alaska, where this year Apache plans to drill its first well, the company has identified 1.3 billion bbl of oil of yet-to-be-found potential.

• In Block L-8 offshore Kenya, Apache has identified eight prospects with net potential of 1.4 billion bbl of oil. Apache expects to spud its first well in the deepwater block in the third quarter.