Looking 'out west' for oil in NPR-A: companies continue exploration and development.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Oil & Gas

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Alaska's North Slope oil producers are looking to the west for opportunities to increase production.

Since the late 1960s, the hub of the development along Alaska's Arctic coast has been Prudhoe Bay. Many companies believe large petroleum deposits are lying under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain to the east, but that area remains off limits. So they're looking west, to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).

NPR-A is an Indiana-sized swath of land on the North Slope roughly between Nuiqsut to the east and to the west of Wainwright. The northern edge is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and the south edge by the Brooks Range. President Harding established the reserve in 1923 as an emergency source of oil for the country. It is also an important nesting area for migrating birds and home to a half-million caribou and other wildlife.

The federal government owns most of the land, but several Alaska Native corporations also hold title to parcels. A total of 136 wells were drilled in the early part of the 1900s, but no major developments resulted until 2015. That's when ConocoPhillips started producing oil from its CD5 prospect, located on land owned by the Kuukpik Corporation, the village corporation for Nuiqsut. Arctic Slope Regional Corporation owns most of the mineral rights.

ConocoPhillips is expanding that project and looking at several other sites within NPR-A.

"We're definitely focusing on the western North Slope," says ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Natalie Lowman.

Other companies, notably ASRC Exploration LLC and Caelus, are also looking at prospects to the west of Prudhoe Bay. ASRC Exploration is drilling an exploration well at Placer No. 3 just south of the Colville River Delta. The company is hoping to delineate the oil field indicated by previous wells drilled in 2004, according to an ASRC news release.

Caelus 'Bullish' on Alaska

Dallas-based independent Caelus Energy is exploring Smith Bay, about 150 miles northwest of Prudhoe Bay. It also is advancing its project at Nuna as well as continuing work at the producing Oooguruk field, which is adjacent to the areas it's exploring. Caelus has been in Alaska since 2014, when it acquired the assets of Pioneer Natural Resources, which included Oooguruk.

"Caelus came to Alaska with the belief that there is significant oil extraction opportunities left on the North Slope," says Casey Sullivan, director of public affairs for Caelus. "So far the company is excited by what it sees."

Shortly after entering Alaska, Caelus purchased 323,000 acres on the east side of Prudhoe Bay and has already conducted a significant 3D seismic shoot on a portion of...