TG World Energy Corp. provides an update on the Alaska Central North Slope winter 2006-07 exploration drilling program, which is being carried out by the project operator, Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. (“BRPC” or the “Operator”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alaska Venture Capital Group (“AVCG”).
BRPC has informed its joint venture partners, TG World Energy Inc., Bow Valley Alaska Corporation and Ramshorn Investments Inc. (“JV Partners”), that the Sak River #1 well was spud on March 16, 2007. The well is being drilled with the Nabors Alaska Drilling, Inc. Rig 27-E. This is the second Nabors rig under contract to BRPC; the Nabors Rig 16-E is currently drilling the North Shore #1 well. The Sak River #1 well will test oil prospects on State of Alaska oil and gas lease ADL390431 which was acquired by AVCG, LLC at the 2003 Beaufort Sea Areawide Sale. TG World’s working interest in the Sak River #1 prospect is 35%.
The surface location of the Sak River #1 well is an onshore ice pad accessed via a six-mile ice road, which departs the existing gravel road infrastructure heading north from the Prudhoe Bay Unit S Pad drillsite. The well is expected to be drilled deviating northeast from the surface location to a bottomhole location 13,100 ft. measured depth (11,500 ft. sstvd) to test the prospects lying under the Gwydyr Bay. The JV Partners elected to drill the Sak River #1 well from an onshore surface location to an offshore bottomhole location so that the well can be retained as a development well if successful. An onshore development in this area reduces the potential impacts to the environment and will allow development permits to be obtained in a more timely fashion. The well is scheduled to take approximately 22 days to drill to reach total depth in the Ivishak Formation.
The Sak River #1 well is being drilled to test stacked oil prospects in the Kuparuk and Ivishak zones. The prospects are viewed as simple structural closures with upside stratigraphic trapping potential, as mapped on 3-D seismic data. Doug Hastings, Vice President of Exploration for BRPC, said “The Sak River #1 is our first exploration well in our Gwydyr Bay Prospect Area. The most recent exploration well in the region was drilled in 1997. The JV Partners control 47,866 acres in the region and are currently acquiring proprietary 3-D seismic data to evaluate on-trend leads analogous to the Sak River #1 Prospect as well as our North Shore Prospect.”
