By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, May 18 -- Alaska subsidiaries of Phillips Petroleum Co. and BP PLC Friday announced a discovery estimated to contain 35 million bbl of recoverable reserves and extending Kuparuk oil field on Alaska's North Slope to the west.
Exploration well Palm No.1 discovered 30 feet of oil-saturated Kuparuk sand at 5,800 ft sub-sea. A sidetrack well, Palm No.1A, tested at an unstimulated rate of about 2,500 b/d of 26° gravity oil. The Palm accumulation is 3 miles west of the Kuparuk field in the Greater Kuparuk Area.
Phillips Alaska Inc. operates Kuparuk field and holds a 55.29% interest. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. holds a 39.28% interest while Unocal Corp., ExxonMobil Corp., and Chevron Corp. each hold minor interests.
The Palm discovery will be developed as an extension of the Kuparuk field. Production from the satellite field, expected in 2003, will be processed through Kuparuk field facilities.
Phillips expects the discovery will help meet its objective of keeping its Alaska production between 375,000-400,000 boe/d for the next several years.
Kuparuk, which began production in 1981, is the second-largest oil field in North America following Prudhoe Bay. The Greater Kuparuk Area, including four satellite fields, produces 225,000 boe/d.
