Eni To Drill Six-mile Directional Test From Offshore Alaska Artificial Island
Drilling Activity Details
Drilling Activity Summary
Description
Eni plans to re-enter and complete drilling and testing operations during the winter at its proposed 6-mile directional exploration project being drilled from an artificial island in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope. According to IHS Markit, #1 Nikaitchuq North is being drilled from Spy Island, a man-made gravel island located offshore of Oliktok Point in Section 19-14n-9e, Umiat Meridian. It was drilled partially in 2017 until operations were suspended in late 2018. According to Rome-based Eni, the well was not completed and or flow-tested, but will be reentered and drilled to total depth in 2019. The well is projected approximately 6 miles north-northwest to of 34,000 ft, 8,000 ft true vertical, with a bottom-hole location in Section 27-15n-8e. The target lies within a new federal unit called Harrison Bay Block 6423 Unit. The new unit consolidated 13 of Eni’s federal leases north, northeast and northwest of the Nikaitchuq Unit. The leases lie within the near-shore Beaufort Sea region. Eni, as operator of the Nikaitchuq North project, owns 40% of the 13 leases in the new unit. Eni’s partners in the leases are Shell Oil Co. with 40% and Repsol with the remaining 20%. The #1 Nikaitchuq North is the first well to be drilled in federal waters off the North Slope since 2015. The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement noted that the Eni long-reach project could result in 20 Mbbl of oil production per day.
Eni plans to re-enter and complete drilling and testing operations during the winter at its proposed 6-mile directional exploration project being drilled from an artificial island in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope. According to IHS Markit, #1 Nikaitchuq North is being drilled from Spy Island, a man-made gravel island located offshore of Oliktok Point in Section 19-14n-9e, Umiat Meridian. It was drilled partially in 2017 until operations were suspended in late 2018. According to Rome-based Eni, the well was not completed and or flow-tested, but will be reentered and drilled to total depth in 2019. The well is projected approximately 6 miles north-northwest to of 34,000 ft, 8,000 ft true vertical, with a bottom-hole location in Section 27-15n-8e. The target lies within a new federal unit called Harrison Bay Block 6423 Unit. The new unit consolidated 13 of Eni’s federal leases north, northeast and northwest of the Nikaitchuq Unit. The leases lie within the near-shore Beaufort Sea region. Eni, as operator of the Nikaitchuq North project, owns 40% of the 13 leases in the new unit. Eni’s partners in the leases are Shell Oil Co. with 40% and Repsol with the remaining 20%. The #1 Nikaitchuq North is the first well to be drilled in federal waters off the North Slope since 2015. The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement noted that the Eni long-reach project could result in 20 Mbbl of oil production per day.