88 Energy has certified an additional 250 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) in its best estimate of gross contingent reserves within the basin floor fan reservoir at its Phoenix project in Alaska.
The maiden resource for the reservoir interval – the deepest hit by the Hickory-1 well in March this year – provides a boost for the project ahead of plans to flow test shallower reservoirs in the well early next year. The resulting assessment of the basin floor fan reservoir interval attributed 44 million barrels of oil and 91 million barrels of non-gas liquids to the 2C best estimate contingent gross resource category, in addition to 628 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas for a total of 250 MMboe.
The high-side (3C) estimates for the reservoir outline 104 million barrels of oil, 218 million barrels of non-gas liquids and 1417 BCF of gas to total 580 MMboe.
88 Energy has a 63 per cent net entitlement in the Phoenix project, resulting in its share of the 2C basin floor fan estimate being 28 million barrels of oil, 57 million barrels of non-gas liquids and 394 BCF of gas for a total of 157 MMboe.
Management engaged consultants Netherland, Sewell & Associates to assess the basin floor fan reservoir in an attempt to mirror Pantheon Resources’ success in certifying a volume for the same reservoir section in its neighbouring Kodiak acreage.
The consultants confirmed that Pantheon’s multiple successful flow tests from the basin floor fan level in its Theta West-1 and Talitha-A wells, both within about 20km of Hickory-1, were representative of the Hickory-1 basin floor fan reservoir and considered a tremendous technical milestone.
88 Energy says high-quality seismic data showed clear reflector continuity between the wells at basin floor fan level. Petrophysical interpretations of well log data suggested sufficient similarity across the wells to confirm producibility at Hickory-1.
88 Energy managing director Ashley Gilbert said: “This maiden Contingent Resource is a great result for 88E and its shareholders. It represents an important milestone on the path to the possible development of Project Phoenix, even prior to flow testing operations at Hickory-1 this upcoming season. We look forward to the upcoming planned Hickory-1 flow tests which, if successful, will enable the certification of additional contingent resources in the shallower reservoirs and move another step closer to appraising the discovery. We remain on track for Q1 2024 operations for this exciting project.”
Management says it hopes to obtain contingent resources for the shallower shelf-margin delta and slope fan systems following its successful well test. To date, the shelf-margin delta reservoir has had one successful flow test about 20km to the north of Hickory-1 at the Alkaid-2 well. The slope fan system reservoir has achieved three successful flow tests at Alkaid-1 and 2 and Talitha-A, all within about 20km of Hickory-1.
The existing gross unrisked mid-case prospective resource for the shelf-margin delta reservoir at project Phoenix is 224 million stock tank barrels (MMstb) and 134 MMstb for the slope fan system reservoir.
Hickory-1 is currently cased and suspended and awaiting the arrival of the Alaskan winter, at which point the flow testing will begin. Encouragingly, the company says all reservoirs were hit at slightly higher than forecast depths and all have gross reservoir thicknesses equal to or greater than pre-drill estimates.
With one maiden contingent resource on the books, 88 Energy is poised to potentially add even more volumes to that category with the pending flow test on the horizon.
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By Andrew Duffy
