Ahpun West Topset Reservoir
Ahpun West Alkaid Reservoir
Project Overview
Ahpun was originally discovered in Arco’s 1988 Pipeline State-1 well and appraised by Pantheon’s Alkaid-1, Alkaid-2 and Talitha-A wells. It is situated underneath and adjacent to the Trans Alaska Pipeline Systems (“TAPS”) pipeline and the Dalton Highway. This advantaged location of Ahpun enables lower capex and faster development horizons compared to all other new oil field developments on the Alaska North Slope (“ANS”).
The Ahpun field is comprised of a set of deltaic topset horizons which contain the predominate resource in the field and the Alkaid Zone, a smaller and deeper accumulation around one quarter the size of the topset horizon. The Company's strategy is to progress Ahpun field development with a goal of cashflows by 2028 and financial self-sufficiency by 2029.
The figure on left shows how the permeability thickness of the Ahpun West reservoir varies and compares to the Alkaid horizon. Expected development well flow rates are directly proportional to the permeability thickness of the reservoir and these maps demonstrate the expected improvement in the Ahpun West topsets compared to the Alkaid horizon.
The near-term benefits of using modular production units in the early stages of the production operation are to expedite early cashflow and minimise initial capex, while acquiring valuable production data to assist future development planning. It also reduces development risk as the Company builds towards the target of financial self-sufficiency. In due course, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) with full facilities will optimise investment in full field capacity as the Company exploits the entire resource potential.