Alaska-based independent Brooks Range Petroleum has made a discovery at its Mustang oil prospect west of the Kuparuk River field on Alaska's North Slope, a company official said Friday.

Brooks believes Mustang will produce about 13,000 b/d at peak and that more than 40 million barrels of oil will be recovered, company chief operating officer Bart Armfield said in an interview.

Plans are for first production in early 2014, Armfield said. Development costs are estimated at $600 million to $800 million.

"We're now moving toward development. There's just a lot of paperwork to do with permits for gravel work with the Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency," and other government agencies, he said.

Mustang is located within 700 feet of the existing Alpine field pipeline, which will enable Brooks Range to do a fast-track development by North Slope standards.

Armfield said Brooks Range is also evaluating a nearby prospect it calls Appaloosa, which could add to reserves.

The company is talking with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state development corporation, on possible participation in a small oil and gas processing facility for the field, Armfield said.

Brooks Range is jointly owned by Alaska Venture Capital Group, itself jointly owned by a group of small Lower 48 independents, and Ramshorn Investments, owned by Nabors Industries.

Brooks Range has been exploring on the North Slope for several years and is working a number of other prospects in addition to Mustang and Appalosa. A small oil discovery was made at Beechey Point just north of the Prudhoe Bay field, but reserves so far are too limited to justify development.

Another prospect, Telemark, is near the Point Thomson gas and condensate field east of Prudhoe. Brooks Range is evaluating Telemark, Ken Thompson, managing director for AVCG, said in a prior interview.

--Tim Bradner, newsdesk@platts.com

Creative Commons License

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.platts.com