http://www.adn.com/business-economy...covery-that-could-among-alaskas-biggest/

Betting the idiots in Juneau will do all they can to cripple development... and then drive it out of business when it does start moving oil.



Caelus claims offshore Arctic oil discovery that could rank among Alaska's biggest ever
Author: Alex DeMarban Updated: 3 hours ago Published 4 hours ago

Smith Bay drilling rig in Alaska Arctic southeast of Barrow. (Caelus Energy undated handout photo)

Caelus Energy Alaska said Tuesday it has made a "world-class" oil discovery that, if estimates prove true, could be one of the largest finds ever in Alaska.

The Smith Bay site, in shallow waters about 50 miles southeast of Barrow, could "provide 200,000 barrels per day of light, highly mobile oil," the company said in a press release Tuesday.

If correct, that production level would make the field more prolific than ConocoPhillips' Alpine unit that began production in 2000 and reached a production peak of 139,000 barrels in 2007.

The statement from Caelus does not indicate analysis by a third-party engineering firm. The estimates are the company's internal numbers, a spokesman said Tuesday morning.

The statement also notes that flow-tests, a step in verifying a well's capabilities, were not conducted "due to seasonal time constraints."

It said, however, that "extensive sidewall coring and subsequent lab analyses confirm the presence of reservoir-quality sandstones containing light oil."

Smith Bay drilling rig in Alaska Arctic southeast of Barrow. (Caelus Energy undated handout photo)
Smith Bay drilling rig in Alaska Arctic southeast of Barrow. (Caelus Energy undated handout photo)
The company said its discovery comes after two wells were drilled early this year, and after it conducted 3D seismic exploration across 126 square miles.

"Caelus estimates the oil in place under the current leasehold to be 6 billion barrels," the statement said. "Furthermore, the Smith Bay fan complex may contain upwards of 10 billion barrels of oil in place when the adjoining acreage is included."

Light oil can flow as easily as water or corn oil and is easier to extract than viscous or heavy oil.

"Caelus expects to achieve recovery factors in the range of 30-40 percent," the statement said. "Additional drilling and seismic should improve estimates of oil in place via delineation of undrilled fan lobes and channel complexes imaged on the original 3D seismic."

In addition to exploration, Caelus Energy, headquartered in Dallas, produces oil at the small Oooguruk field on the North Slope. The company acquired the field in 2013 from Pioneer Natural Resources when that company left Alaska to focus on shale opportunities in Texas.

Caelus owns 75 percent of the leases at Smith Bay. NordAq Energy Inc. holds 17.5 percent and L71 Resources holds 7.5 percent.

The company's chief executive, James Musselman, said in the statement that "fiscal stability" will be critical for the Smith Bay field's development, a reference to a stable tax program as cash-strapped Alaska continues to look at reducing subsidies to the oil industry. He said tax credits offered by the state were critical to the discovery.

Good news!

Trouble is stupid runs wide and deep in Juneau. That and bringing a line 50 miles offshore of Barrow to TAPs ain't going to be cheap.

Certainly not going to be cheap, but the discovery is 50 miles from Barrow... to the SE... that should be a shorter shot to the beach to the SE...

Thinking about it, the size indicates a lot of it has to be on land.

http://dog.dnr.alaska.gov/GIS/Data/ActivityMaps/NorthSlope/NorthSlopeOilAndGasActivityMap-201605.pdf

DO NOT TELL ANYBODY THIS IS A GOOD WEBSITE!!!!!!! Bastards will change it!

Took exactly two clicks to get the map!

Could not figure out how to post the actual map.

Last place I worked was looking at running a pipeline for shell before they pulled the plug. Given that was further South and the number they were given was over 600k bbls/day but that pipeline was going to be big bucks, not to mention offshore development with little onshore infrastructure.

If Caelus does go ahead it will be exactly what the state and workers in the state need.

Quote: "Betting the idiots in Juneau will do all they can to cripple development... and then drive it out of business when it does start moving oil."

So Palin must be involved. Too bad Walker is an idiot. He doesn't care about oil, just gas. I guess he has the answer to the states financial issues. Course no way he will share with the company that did the work.

Walker is an idiot hell bent on this gas pipeline that will bring nothing to the state..

No need to disparage your AK politicians. If HRC gets the nod, you wouldn't be able to recover it, no matter your state politics.

Not to worry. As someone pointed out in the local Minor News, we don't need oil, coal, or other evil fossil fuels in this state or for this state. The state can balance it's budget by taxes on fisheries. Funny though, when I looked at what the State takes in from fish resources, it comes in behind tobacco taxes, and we sure can't balance the budget with tobacco sales.

Drill baby drill!

Just need to encourage middle-schoolers to smoke.

BTW, Klik, that's the News Minus or News Manure.

Tappin my foot!

Only knew the refrain. Tanks!

Always been struck by how similar these are...

Saw them at "A Day on the Green at the Oakland Coliseum" in about '73. Included the Beach Boys, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Grateful Dead. Seems there was at least another band, too...

We didn't even have a pink season this year. At least smokers are consistent.

Having run boats in that area for 5 year (more than 5 years ago) Oooguruk is an easy place to drill. A seawater treatment plant is right here, seas are calm and very shallow (used to drag bottom on the boats in that area) and a viable pipeline is close by.

Keep finding oil

Caelus gave a lunch talk to my office last week. It was interesting to hear some details of the discovery, and the challenges they have. They'll be drilling a third and more extensive well next winter, but it looks like a large promising find. One of the major challenges is they are ~175 miles from TAPS and the are on state leases surrounded by Federal land. Running the pipeline could be a major political hurdle. Also all of their leases are offshore (in all of 2-10' of water) and ideally they'd have at least an onshore laydown area during construction if not some onshore facilities and that gets back to the federal land issue.

One other interesting point during the discussion was the mention of Teshekpuk lake oil leases. The Federal government had scheduled lease sales in 2008. They put the lease sales on hold for 10 years. With the new administration there is a chance that lease sale would go ahead. Those leases are between the Caelus Smith Bay discovery and TAPS, so the potential for much more oil for dedcades to come and more of a justification of a significant pipeline to tie Smith Bay into TAPS.

If Smith Bay is developed, the forecast is it would yield the state ~$30 billion in taxes over 30 years, and extend the life of TAPS by ~20 years. Without the additional 200k bbls/day from Smith or other new developments TAPS is looking to be in trouble from insufficient throughput in 10-15 years.

Tons of oil up there.