Miami independent Forcenergy Inc. has positioned itself for a leading role in exploration and development of Alaska's Cook Inlet region.
Forcenergy and Unocal Corp. are teaming up to pursue lease sale activities and further develop Unocal's existing properties in the Cook Inlet basin.
The producing properties in the Cook Inlet area and the Cook Inlet Pipeline Co. are operated by Unocal.
"We believe that the Cook Inlet basin is underexplored and offers the potential for significant new discoveries," said Stig Wennerstrom, Forcenergy president and chief executive officer.
The disclosure comes on the heels of a separate yet parallel deal, in which Forcenergy will acquire for $128.2 million Marathon Oil Co.'s interest in crude oil properties in Alaska's Cook Inlet and Prudhoe Bay unit. The deal includes purchase of Marathon's 30% working interest in Cook Inlet Pipeline Co.
In still another move, Forcenergy has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding stock of Great Western Resources Inc., Houston, in a deal valued at about $48 million.
This deal, to close in first quarter 1997, bolsters Forcenergy's Gulf Coast portfolio and gives it a foothold in Latin America.
Cook Inlet plans
The agreement with Unocal requires Forcenergy to spend as much as $30 million the next 5 years on lease acquisition and development, as well as exploratory drilling of prospects generated by the alliance.
Forcenergy will have access to Unocal's geologic and geophysical database in the Cook Inlet basin, including about 37,000 miles of 2D and 6,000 miles of 3D seismic. Also, Forcenergy and Unocal will dedicate technical staff to the alliance in a joint effort to identify development prospects and exploration opportunities in proximity to Unocal's properties.
Plans call for alliance personnel to be based in a new, soon-to-open Anchorage office.
Forcenergy said a significant number of prospects and leads have been generated and will be further evaluated for drilling potential.
Marathon acquisition
The acquisition from Marathon, subject to waiver of third-party preferential rights affecting Trading Bay field and Cook Inlet Pipeline Co. interests, is expected to close by yearend.
The deal includes Marathon's 48% average working interest in McArthur River field (Trading Bay unit), Marathon's 50% interest in Trading Bay field, and Marathon's 0.05% working interest in Prudhoe Bay unit.
Acquisition includes about 7,200 b/d of net oil production.
Net crude oil reserves associated with the Trading Bay unit, Trading Bay field, and Prudhoe Bay unit interest acquisition total about 27.35 million bbl, Forcenergy said.
Great Western deal
Wennerstrom said the purchase will add to Forcenergy's Gulf Coast production and prospect portfolio.
"We are acquiring interesting prospects along with quality producing assets with upside potential and talented technical personnel," Wennerstrom said.
Great Western has oil and gas operations along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast onshore and in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, it has a 20% interest in an exploration concession onshore in central Peru that's operated by Enterprise Oil plc, London.
Forcenergy has a one-well obligation on one remaining prospect on the Peruvian concession, which will be drilled sometime in 1997, the company said. Two dry holes have been drilled so far, and the cost of the third well will be borne principally by Enterprise.
As of Sept. 30, Great Western Resources had proved reserves of about 33.2 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent (bcfe). Its current net production totals about 1,300 b/d of oil and 14 MMcfd of gas. In addition, the company has interests in several promising exploration prospects, Forcenergy said, including several salt dome plays utilizing extensive 3D seismic data in South Louisiana that cover more than 78,000 gross acres.
Wennerstrom said Forcenergy plans "to achieve significant operating cost savings" by integrating the operations of Great Western's most significant gulf holding, South Marsh Island Block 18, with Forcenergy's adjacent complex involving South Marsh Island Blocks 6, 10, 11, 19, and 285. Block 11 is the site of a recent, undisclosed discovery.
Great Western Resources' Block 18 net production is about 7 MMcfd of gas and 300 b/d, plus it has minor interests in several other blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.
Forcenergy background
Company focus is on 81 lease blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, 32 of which are owned 100% by Forcenergy. It operates 47. Its deepest water gulf lease is West Cameron Block 630, in about 350 ft.
Forcenergy has a $110 million drilling program scheduled in the gulf in 1997, which will not be affected by the recent acquisitions, according to J. Russell Porter, vice-president of corporate development.
Forcenergy's No. 54 discovery well, in about 60-80 ft of water on South Marsh Island Block 11, has estimated net reserves of 21 bcfe. The company owns a 100% working interest in the well, which is producing a net 800 b/d and 4.5 MMcfd.
Forcenergy plans to drill at least four more exploratory wells and a similar number of development wells in the area.
In the next 18 months, Porter said, the company plans an extensive step-out drilling program on its Gulf of Mexico producing properties in an effort to prove what Forcenergy now estimates is an upside reserve potential totaling a little less than 600 bcfe.
Forcenergy Inc. is a stand-alone U.S. company. Forcenergy AB, Stockholm, owns 38% of its stock.
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