Buccaneer Energy Ltd., Sydney, has spudded the Cosmo-1 well in 80 ft of water in Cook Inlet 30 miles northwest of Homer, Alaska.
The vertical well’s target depth is 8,000 ft using the Endeavour jack up. The first Tyonek gas zone is expected at 2,150 ft followed by multiple gas zones to 6,000 ft. Casing will be set at 6,000 ft before drilling through the proven oil-bearing Starichkof and Hemlock formations below which is the prospective West Foreland formation.
The current plan is to take oil cores to augment the reservoir data to further optimize the future oil development plan, and at this stage it is not planned to flow-test the oil formations. After drilling and logging, the well will be plugged back to the bottom of Tyonek.
Buccaneer is operator with 25% working interest, and BlueCrest Energy II LP, Fort Worth, has 75%.