88 Energy locks in March date for Alaskan well

Alaska-focused oil explorer 88 Energy will drill the highly anticipated Merlin 2 well in March following the completion of the access road to site and the commissioning of the contracted drilling rig.

The well is the follow up to the 2021 Merlin 1 discovery that encountered multiple oil shows in the Brookian Nanushuk Formation – a significant production horizon in the North Slope area of Alaska.

With a planned total depth of 8000 feet, Merlin 2 will be significantly deeper than the 5200ft Merlin 1 well as it chases a mean unrisked prospective resource of 652 million barrels of oil in the target zones.

The areas include the same stacked sequences that demonstrated light oil in the initial Merlin well with 41ft of viable pay zones across the three reservoir intervals. 

Having received the relevant approvals to drill the company will be using the Artic Fox, a rig it has used in previous drilling campaigns, for a three to four week long operation that includes logging.

The wells are located in 88 Energy’s 195,000 acre Project Peregrine area in the NPR-A region of the North Slope.

The 100 per cent owned project is situated on trend to recent discoveries in a newly successful play type in topset sands within the Nanushuk formation.

88 Energy managing director Ashley Gilbert said:

“Following a period of review we are pleased to have the Permit to Drill in hand, and the mobilisation of the Arctic Fox rig commencing to the drilling location ahead of spud in early March 2022. We look forward with excitement to the drilling of the highly anticipated Merlin 2 appraisal well.”

Last year, about 70km north of Peregrine, NYSE-listed energy major ConocoPhillips unveiled a discovery of between 750 million and 800 million barrels of recoverable oil at the Willow prospect. Whilst just 50km north-east of Peregrine, takeover target Oil Search – now owned by Santos - announced 3,520 barrels of oil per day in a production test-flow from the Stirrup well.

88 Energy also signalled a trading halt in its shares at the start of trading pending a capital raising announcement.

While Merlin-1 may have been deemed a non-commercial discovery, it did prove 88 Energy is onto a live oil system.  The company will be hoping the Merlin 2 appraisal well will flow to surface in similar volumes to nearby discoveries from the seemingly bountiful Nanushuk formation.

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