www.AlaskaAlliance.com 31 Pipeline Construction & Maintenance | EPC Contracting Powerplant Construction | General Contracting Anchorage | Deadhorse | 907.278.4400 | www.pricegregory.com Thousands of Miles of Experience Committed to Client Satisfaction Dedicated to Safety Excellence expanding gravel pads at Mustang to support new drilling and development. The company will relocate support camps at Mustang to the new pad to provide more distance from new wells that are planned. The pad work is to begin in September and end in October. Finnex has taken over as owner and operator at Mustang, purchasing the property from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the state’s development finance corporation, which has foreclosed on the small field after previous owner Brooks Range Petroleum encountered financial problems. Brooks Range’s problems were related to the state’s decision in 2016 and 2016 to renege on exploration tax credits promised to Alaska explorers including Great Bear. U.K.-based Pantheon Resources, operating in Alaska as Great Bear Exploration, is continuing development work at its discoveries in the central North Slope south of Prudhoe Bay. In yet another development, Panethon has firmed up plans to drill another appraisal/exploration well this winter, its Megrez 1 test at its Ahpun prospect south of Prudhoe and near the Dalton Highway. Great Bear has contracted with Nabors Alaska for a rig for the drilling. A short horizontal well section may be drilled in addition to the vertical well, which is planned for 7,800-feet of vertical depth and 13,500 feet of measured depth (part of the well will be drilled at an angle). The crew for the project will be housed at Deadhorse and shuttled to the well site. The drilling will be done this winter. Meanwhile, the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas will solicit online bids for its annual North Slope “area-wide” lease sales beginning Oct. 28 with results to be released Nov. 20. Unleased land in the onshore central slope, offshore Beaufort Sea and Brooks Range foothills are being offered for lease. The foothills and Beaufort Sea have attracted little attention in recent years. Included in the fall Beaufort Sea offering may be acreage from Shell’s former West Harrison Bay Unit in Harrison Bay, which is just north of the Colville River delta and north of the onshore Alpine field. Shell voluntarily terminated its unit in May after failing to find a partner to share exploration expenses. The unit included 81,000 acres which will now be reoffered by the state Division of Oil and Gas. Meanwhile, Anchorage-based independent Narwhal LLC and EE Partners have filed plans for a proposed unit in Harrison Bay adjacent to Shell’s former leases. It would encompass 77,800 acres. Narwhal LLC has filed an initial five-year plan of exploration that could include two to four test wells. Although Harrison Bay has been lightly explored over the years, state geologists consider it a prospective area. It is seven miles north of where ConocoPhillips made its Willow discovery and also near the “Nanushuck Fairway,” a geologic formation to the south where major oil and gas discoveries, such as Pikka by Santos Ltd. and Repsol have been made. — Tim Bradner
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