Seven wells planned on Alaskan North Slope, up on five last year

Seven wells planned on Alaskan North Slope, up on five last year

Anchorage (Platts)--3Nov2006

At least seven exploration wells are planned so far this winter on Alaska's
North Slope, an increase over previous years, company and government agency
officials told Platts.

Exploration is typically done in winter in northern Alaska so that rigs and
other equipment can be moved across frozen tundra. Last year five wells were
drilled. During November companies are usually finalizing permits with state
and federal agencies and working with contractors to line up rigs and support
equipment.

On state of Alaska lands in the central North Slope Anadarko Petroleum
Corp. plans to drill its Jacob's Ladder prospect on state lands southeast of
the Prudhoe Bay field, according to Mark Hanley, Anadarko's Alaska public
affairs manager. Hanley said the company has two partners in the well, BG
Group and Arctic Slope Regional Corp., an Alaska Native regional corporation.
"We're going to be out there as early as we can this winter, but it depends on
how quickly cold weather sets in so we can build ice roads," Hanley told
Platts.

ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. will drill its Makua prospect on the Colville
River delta north of the Alpine field, which is now producing about 130,000
barrels per day. The company is now finalizing permits with state agencies,
officials in the Division of Oil and Gas told Platts. Since Alpine was
discovered the company has discovered several smaller accumulations in the
immediate area and is searching for more.

In the first Alaska drilling it will manage, ENI Petroleum Exploration Inc.
will drill its Maggore prospect on state leases south of the Kuparuk River
field. The acreage was acquired in a deal with Armstrong Oil and Gas, a
Denver-based independent.

Eni has identified and secured permits on four prospects but it is
uncertain whether all four will be drilled this winter, state officials
familiar with the company's program said. ENI is newly active in northern
Alaska and is also a minority partner in offshore projects now being developed
by Pioneer Natural Resources and Anadarko Petroleum, which took over projects
developed by Kerr-McGee.

Alaska Venture Capital Partners LLC, an independent, will drill two tests
on leases it owns on the northern edge of the Prudhoe Bay field, according to
Ken Thompson, who head the group's Alaska operations.

Savant Alaska LLC, an independent, has plans to test an offshore prospect
in shallow water east of Endicott, a producing field operated by BP. Savant
would drill from an artificial ice island, according to plans the company has
submitted to state agencies.

Two exploration programs are planned this winter in the National Petroleum
Reserve-Alaska in the western North Slope. ConocoPhillips plans an exploration
well south of Barrow. FEX LLC, a subsidiary of Talisman Energy, plans to drill
one to two wells on federal leases in the northeastern NPR-A near where the
company drilled tests last winter.

Next summer Shell plans to drill four wells on offshore federal OCS leases
in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, using two drill ships. Offshore wells are
typically drilled in summer in northern Alaska unless they are in nearshore
waters shallow enough for an artificial ice or gravel island to support
drilling. Two wells will be drilled on the Hammerhead discovery made in the
1980s by Unocal, which was then considered uneconomic. Hammerhead is north of
the Point Thomson gas and condensate field, which is 60 miles east of Prudhoe
Bay.

Two other wells drilled by Shell will be on a prospect east of Hammerhead.
Summer drilling must be timed, however, to avoid disturbing bowhead whales
which migrate through the Alaskan Beaufort Sea.

In other activity, Anadarko will drill two appraisal wells in the
Nikaitchug discovery in shallow offshore waters north of the Kuparuk River
field. Anadarko acquired Nikaitchug when it took over Kerr-McGee. The wells
will involve extended-reach directional drilling and will be drilled from an
onshore pad at Oliktok Point, on the Beaufort Sea coast.

Nikaitchug is in the development planning phase. The appraisal wells are
intended to better define the discovery before a decision is made to develop
the field, Anadarko spokesman Mark Hanley said. Nikaitchug is adjacent to
another discovery, Oooguruk, now being developed by Pioneer Natural Resources
Co. Pipelines and production facilities for Oooguruk are being installed this
winter in anticipation of a production startup in early 2008, Ken Sheffield,
Pioneer's Alaska manager, has told Platts.

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