Nuna has recently started production, Pikka may start production oil ahead of schedule, and other efficiencies in Prudhoe Bay may lead to more oil. Learn more about the efforts of North Slope operators to increase the amount of oil flowing through TAPS.
The Sockeye-2 test is the second successful exploratory well, after the previous winter’s King Street-1, drilled in the Lagniappe area.
From its new headquarters building in Downtown Anchorage, Santos is watching construction proceed apace at the Pikka project on the North Slope.
Santos is making steady progress at Pikka, spudding a well in the first half of 2023 and anticipating first oil in 2026.
New projects on the North Slope, such as Pikka, could ensure that the Trans Alaska Pipeline System rarely drops below half capacity for the foreseeable future.
The timeline for the Pikka project appears to be slipping since the arrival of a new majority partner, Santos, late last year.
Australian oil company Santos is merging with Papua New Guinea-based Oil Search, which has been developing the Pikka project on the North Slope.
The revised development plan ultimately allows Oil Search to increase its overall production at a reduced cost.
Fall is well underway, and with it signs that Alaska’s oil and gas industry is busy preparing for the 2019-2020 winter drilling season.
Both ConocoPhillips and Oil Search are optimistic about the potential of the Nanushuk Formation on the North Slope following the combined drilling of nine delineation wells over the winter in the Greater Willow and Pikka-Horseshoe units.