Canadian juniors involved with Gwyder oil well test

A $4 million(US) oil well being drilled by a consortium of Canadian, U.S. and Australian companies is past the 8,000-ft mark and fast approaching its target depth of 11,000 ft. The well is testing a section of the Gwyder Bay field, which adjoins the Prudhoe Bay area of Alaska’s fabled North Slope — the largest oil field in the U.S.

Partners in the Alaska North Slope Consortium include a group of Canadian junior mineral explorers who have ventured into the oil and gas patch. These are Lytton Minerals (10.9%), Petromet Resources (13.6%), Dolly Varden Minerals (16.3%) and Resource Capital International (5%). The remaining interest in the project is held by Australian and U.S. companies.

Based on previous tests of the Gwyder Bay prospect, the current operators believe the area has a high probability of success. The best indicator of success comes from the Mobil Gwyder Bay South well, drilled by Mobil Oil in 1974. The well flowed 2,263 bbl of oil per day from a 90-ft pay zone in the Sadlerochit Formation. The well now being drilled is a 2,500-ft step-out from the old Mobil well. “It’s not really an exploratory well, its a development offset,” Dr. Richard A. Walls, a petroleum geologist with the consortium, tells The Northern Miner.

A review of existing data suggests the Sadlerochit Formation has proven recoverable reserves of 72 million bbls of oil and probable reserves of 135 million bbls. The shallower Kuparuk Formation hosts probable reserves of 49 million bbls, the partners report.

The consortium plans to complete two wells during the 1987 and 1988 drilling season in order to prove up reserves. If sucessfull, oil production from the lands could begin by the early 1990’s.

The Prudhoe Bay field produces at a rate of 1.5 million bbls of oil per day. As a result, well-developed roads and services are available in the area.