Alpine Oil Field: An Integrated Approach to Reservoir Prediction, Drilling, and Surveillance

By

Dean A Gingrich¹, Meg C Kremer¹, Clifford L Crabtree¹

(1) Phillips Alaska Inc, Anchorage, AK

 The Alpine Field is located on the North Slope of Alaska 34 miles west of the Kuparuk River Field, straddling the National Petroleum Reserve- Alaska (NPRA). The discovery of this new oil accumulation in 1994 was the largest onshore oil discovery in North America in the 1990’s.

Due to its remoteness and location in an environmentally sensitive area, several development innovations were used at Alpine that affected reservoir development. They include:

-         No gravel road connection to existing North Slope infrastructure

-         Tight 10 foot well spacing on surface pad

-         Small total gravel footprint, 91 acres, for 40,000 acre development

-         Open-hole, horizontal production wells spaced 1500’ apart, 3000’ long.

To improve prediction of reservoir thickness, quality, and production parameters, an integrated team of geologists; geophysicists; reservoir, drilling, and surveillance engineers worked together to develop the Alpine Oil Field.

An integrated full-field reservoir model has been used to plan: well spacing, drilling sequence, and optimum horizontal well length. An integrated data gathering program and common database has proved invaluable for planning, surveillance and plan modifications.

To date over 150,000 feet of horizontal well bore has been drilled with over 95% in the reservoir zone. The average reservoir interval prediction error is 10 feet. The average reservoir depth error is 15 feet.

This paper will cover the methodology used for development at Alpine.