Over the past couple of years, discoveries by the Repsol/Armstrong Joint Venture, ConoccoPhillips and the recent farmin by Australian oil major Oil Search has breathed new life into Alaska’s North Slope, with ISH Markit analysts reporting some 28 billion barrels of crude oil still to be extracted from the prolific area.
The North Slope basin, once a powerhouse of oil production with a record high of 2 million barrels a day in the late 1980s, had since seen production fall off to about 400,000 barrels a day. Accordingly, the North Slope had come to be thought of as a mature basin, a status now upgraded to an arrested, late-emerging-phase ‘super basin’ as IHS Markit believe the crude oil output could potentially increase by 40% in the next eight years.
It is no wonder, then, that oil and gas companies of all sizes are showing no complacency when it comes to partaking in the rebirth of this super basin. Australian oil and gas exploration company,Red Emperor is gearing up to begin jointly drilling on its high prospective Nanushuk oil trend exploration well, estimated to have a recoverable resource volume of 400mln barrels, on the North Slope with 88 Energy Ltd and Otto Energy Ltd.
A rig contract has now been executed and with permitting on track and expected to be finalized soon, infrastructure work could commence as early as December. Drilling is well and truly on track to begin in the first quarter of 2019.
This project, in which Red Emperor holds a 31.5% working interest, is reflective of the exploration company’s greater strategy-- identifying assets near recent and relevant discoveries and entering beneficial partnerships to mitigate project risk. Such an approach has given Red Emperor a proven track record of protecting shareholder value while still maintaining significant upside potential. With drilling in the North Slope only a few months away, Red Emperor remains one to watch.
Red Emperor’s Managing Director, Greg Bandy, commented, “This is a very exciting time for the North Slope and Red Emperor is proud to be part of the resurgence. Recent discoveries, resource upgrades and technical evaluations by third parties have reinforced our view of the prospectivity of our acreage.”
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