Long-stalled development of the West Sak heavy oil accumulation, which overlies Kuparuk River field on Alaska's North Slope, may finally get off the ground in 1997, said operator ARCO Alaska.
ARCO's board approved funding for Phase I of the West Sak development project, which is due to begin in October.
First production is expected by yearend, pending approval of partner BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. and receipt of needed permits.
Initial development plans call for drilling 50 wells and installing associated facilities. Phase I will develop 51 million bbl of new reserves and additional output of 7,000 b/d, ARCO said. ARCO has committed $54 million to the $92 million project, with the re- mainder to come from BP.
Total development of the West Sak core area could require more than 500 additional wells and yield incremental output of 62,000 b/d, ARCO said.
Lower costs of developing and operating Alaskan oil fields prompted the go-ahead decision on West Sak, said ARCO Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike R. Bowlin.
If Phase I is successful, ARCO plans to forge ahead with additional drilling. Bowlin terms Phase I the "first step in a cautious 'pay-as-we-go' effort to complete development of West Sak, which holds an estimated 400 million bbl of potential reserves. That would follow years of studies that occasionally focused on more-exotic development/ production approaches.
Added a company official: "Rather than turn West Sak into something it wasn't, we decided to try to live with what it is."
West Sak development has been on the back burner since 1989 and interest in reevaluating development resumed in 1995 (OGJ, May 1, 1995, p. 31). Oil in place is estimated at more than 15 billion bbl.
To hold costs down, development of West Sak will make extensive use of existing Kuparuk River drill sites, pipelines, and processing centers.
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