First Offshore Oil Discovery Made In Canadian Arctic Sea
Imperial Oil Ltd., 70 percent owned by Exxon Corp., has announced the first oil and natural gas find in the Beaufort Sea of the Canadian Arctic.
The company said it has a threezone oil and gas discovery from a drilling platform on a temporary artificial island offshore from the Mackenzie Delta area. It is about 300 miles east-southeast of the major oil fields at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Imperial did not disclose flow rates or the thickness of the zones.
But it said it will plug and abandon the discovery and will build a permanent artificial island as a base for future drilling to delineate the oil and gas accumulation. This is a normal procedure when an apparent commercial discovery is made offshore.
Canadian oil analysts were enthusiastic about the discovery. One said the find "increases the probability of more oil offshore the Mackenzie Delta." An earlier well drilled by Imperial in the Beaufort Sea at a cost of more than $9 million was abandoned last December because of abnormally high formation pressures that made further drilling dangerous.
That well, the Immerk B-48, had been intended to go to 15,000 feet, but reached only 8,883 feet before abandonment. Only minor gas shows were encountered at that depth, the company said.
Imperial said earlier that the latest well, the AD'GO F-28, has turned up a "significant thickness" of gas-bearing sands at 7,000 feet.
The well has reached a depth of 10,528 feet.
The well flowed oil in two drillstem tests conducted in a sandstone reservoir at about 5,650 feet, Imperial said. It added that the well also flowed oil on a drillstem test from the lower part o'f another sandstone reservoir at about a depth of 4,130 feet and flowed gas on two drillstem tests in the upper portion of the same reservoir.
Gas flowed to the surface in two final drillstem tests in a third reservoir at about 3,400 feet, Imperial said.
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Content
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- Dearborn-Storm Completes Sale Of Computer Portfolio page: 7
- 14 LNG Tankers Now On Order Use Gaz-Transport Design page: 8
- Carboline Company Employs Saroyan As Coatings Consultant page: 9
- Shipping Executive Predicts Oil Imports Will Triple In 1970s page: 10
- AIMS Elects Thomas B. Crowley Board Chairman page: 14
- Marathon Launches 47th Rig From Vicksburg Yard page: 18
- Propeller Club Miami Chapter Convention May 1-3 page: 20
- FMC Shipyard Sets Complete Icebreaker-Type Bow On Gas Turbine Powered Tanker page: 22
- Vancouver Shipyards Constructing Largest Building Berth In B.C. page: 26
- Sembawang Shipyard Names Ernest Ware General Manager page: 26
- Crutcher Amends License Agreement With Brown & Root page: 27
- Mobil Oil Retrofits Tankers With Coppus Inert Gas Systems page: 30
- Royal Viking Line Names Oslo Director page: 30
- Ryan & Walsh Form Stevedoring Firm For Mid-Gulf Coastal Area page: 31
- Kings Point Reports Its Scholars Program 'Progressing Well' page: 31
- Mercantile Marine Engineering Building Graving Dock For Large Ships Calling At Antwerp page: 32
- Crichton And Turnbull Named To MacGregor Centrex Board page: 32
- Hellen Speaks On Finland's Future Plans To Compete For Building Of Large Tankers page: 33
- New $30-Million Graving Dock For Electric Boat Division page: 36
- Santa Fe International Reports Earnings Up page: 37
- American-Standard Power And Controls Names Ronald Gaylord page: 38
- President Appoints Adm. Rea Commander Third USCG District page: 38
- SNAME Los Angeles Section Hears Paper On 'Carbon Fiber For Marine Structure page: 39
- FMC Appoints Barkan Director Atlantic District Office page: 39
- British Shipowner Organizations Merge page: 40
- Six Offshore Supply Vessels To Be Built In Rhode Island Yard page: 40
- Lockheed Oil Recovery Device Passes Tests Off California Coast page: 41
- First Offshore Oil Discovery Made In Canadian Arctic Sea page: 42
