PNG oil and gas company Oil Search Limited has released an update of its Alaska acquisition.It stated in the update the commencement of the appraisal drilling program, environmental impact statement, expansion of its current lease position, and divestment option with its current partner in the project.
The 2018/19 two-well appraisal drilling program on the Pikka Unit has commenced, with the construction of the ice road underway and both wells on track to commence drilling in January 2019.
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Pikka Unit development has been issued by the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE).
The FEIS comment period closed on 3 December 2018 and the USACE is now preparing its Record of Decision, which should allow the Pikka development to proceed to Front End Engineering and Design, planned for mid-2019.
Also in conjunction with its partner, Repsol, Oil Search has successfully expanded its lease position following the recent 2018 Alaska Lease round, acquiring interests in prospective acreage close and adjacent to the Pikka Unit.
Preparations for exercising Oil Search’s option with Armstrong and a partial divestment of the acquired lease interests are progressing well, with significant interest from oil industry participants in the company’s Alaskan assets.
It has also recruited a multi-disciplinary team of highly experienced personnel continues to make excellent progress for the project.
Commenting on the company’s Alaskan assets, Oil Search’s managing director Peter Botten said :“In under a year, Oil Search has made great strides forward in delivering value from its Alaskan North Slope acquisition, completed in early 2018.”
“The company is positioned at the forefront of the re-emergence of Alaska as a major world class petroleum province, driven by the development of the exciting Nanushuk play,’’ he said.
“The importance and scale of this new play has been confirmed not just by our discoveries but also the 2018 drilling by ConocoPhillips adjacent to our acreage.
“The United States Geological Survey’s most recent assessment indicates that the Nanushuk has the potential to contain some eight billion barrels of oil. Following the recent lease awards, Oil Search and its partners now control much of the acreage that dominates this play.
“Recent detailed reservoir modelling, incorporating more data and the ConocoPhillips 2018 drilling results, has given us significantly greater confidence in the upside of the resource in the Nanushuk in the Pikka Unit,” Mr Botten stated.
He said significant progress with the EIS process, “We took time to consider all community issues and incorporated several amendments to the original plan to reduce the environmental footprint.
“The Record of Decision, expected late in the first quarter of 2019, will clear the way for the Pikka Unit Joint Venture to move into FEED, targeted for mid-2019, with a final investment decision expected to take place in 2020,” he said.