Companies are betting a lot more oil will be found on North Slope; Recent lease sale results show where

Alaska’s North Slope has been explored for years but companies there are betting a lot more oil will be found, some of it just a few miles from Prudhoe Bay, the slope’s largest field that has been producing for 45 years.

Results of the state of Alaska’s recent North Slope “areawide” lease sale show where companies expect new discoveries.

One area is 20 miles south of Prudhoe Bay where U.K.-based Pantheon Resources bid on and acquired 20,000 acres in 27 new leases adjacent to the company’s existing land holdings.

Captivate Alaska, a subsidiary of Australia-based explorer 88 Energy, has targeted the same area, acquiring 10 leases and 25,000 acres in the Nov. 9 lease sale.

This area, adjacent to the Dalton Highway, an all-year road linking the North Slope with the Interior Alaska highway system, has been explored in the early 1970s but it is only with the development of new technologies like 3-D seismic and horizontal drilling that possible commercial discoveries are now being made.

Pantheon discovered oil in wells drilled on current leases in the area and has a long-term production test underway this winter on one find. Captivate Alaska also has existing leases in the area and recently started drilling on its first exploration well, Hickory 1.

So far the daily flow rates of wells drilled on Pantheon’s discoveries are low but the company hopes to increase the output with multi-stage fracturing, a plan now being tested at the one well with a long-term test.

In another development, Hilcorp Alaska, operator of the maturing Prudhoe field, signaled its belief the field can be expanded in 12 new leases acquired on the northern and southern flanks of the field, and in nearshore Alaska Beaufort Sea tracts north of Prudhoe.

Again, no large finds are expected, but Hilcorp aims to incrementally expand Prudhoe Bay production.

Hilcorp acquired BP’s share of Prudhoe Bay in 2017 and has been busy in redevelopment to stabilize production, but this is the company’s first steps to expand its stake in and around the field. ExxonMobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips also own significant shares of Prudhoe.

In other developments, Lagniappe Alaska, an affiliate of Denver-based Armstrong Oil and Gas, added seven tracts and 17,920 acres to its existing leases on the eastern North Slope.

Lagniappe is led by Bill Armstrong, who has been aggressive, and successful, in North Slope exploration.

This is one area where there could be a significant fine. Armstong led the work that led to the large Pikka discovery near the Alpine field now being developed by Santos Ltd., of Australia, and Madrid-based Repsol. In interviews with Alaska reporters Armstrong has said he believes similar large finds can be made in his eastern North Slope leases, and area mostly overlooked other companies.

Armstrong also led the exploration leading to the small Oooguruk and Nikaitchuq fields that are now producing offshore the existing Kuparuk River and Prudhoe fields.

In another development, independent Savant Alaska acquired 3,330 acres in three offshore Alaska Beaufort Sea tracts adjacent to the small Badami field on the coast 25 miles east of Prudhoe.

Savant acquired Badami from BP several years ago and has struggled with technical issues. That the company moved to acquired new and adjacent acreage signals confidence that Badami’s resources, and its limited production, can be increased.

Near the new Pikka field west of Prudhoe Bay Santos Ltd. subsidiary Oil Search acquired three tracts and 3,817 acres, signaling confidence in the potential for new reserve additions and and expanded production at Pikka.

Pikka is now in the early stages of construction with plans for 80,000 b/d in its initial phase by 2025 and an eventual expansion to 120,000 b/d in a second phase that has yet to be approved.