88 Energy advances toward a maiden estimate at Project Leonis
(), an Alaska-focused hydrocarbon explorer, updated markets on progress at its Project Leonis on Alaska's North Slope. Leonis was awarded to 88 Energy in April 2023 and comprises ten leases covering approx. 25,430 contiguous acres. The acreage is conveniently located adjacent to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and the Dalton Highway.
Leonis contains the Hemi Springs Unit #3 (HS-3) exploration well, drilled by ARCO in 1985. An initial review of the well has indicated approx. 200 ft of logged bypassed net pay in the Upper Schrader Bluff (USB) reservoir, with good porosity and oil shows, including "oil over shakers" noted at multiple depths.
Leonis is fully covered by the Storms 3D seismic data suite, purchased by 88 Energy in 2022. The company said seismic reprocessing of the data by an independent expert has significantly improved seismic resolution and data quality, and provided an initial assessment of the USB prospect boundary.
The improved reprocessed data should help 88 Energy define and assess the prospectivity of Project Leonis, with results so far pointing to a significant resource within the acreage. An initial assessment of the size of the USB prospect has indicated an area of approx. 60 km2.
The next steps for Project Leonis are to obtain an independent certified prospective resource report, expected in Q3 2023. Then, the company will commission a maiden prospective resource estimate, and continue planning and permitting for a potential exploration well coupled with a targeted farm-out.
It should be noted that drilling of HS-3 by ARCO in 1985 was not targeting the USB reservoir. More recently, the USB reservoir has been successfully developed at the nearby Orion, Polaris, West Sak, and Milne Point oil fields to the north.
Furthermore, Project Leonis is ideally located directly adjacent to the Trans-Alaska pipeline system and the Dalton Highway, enhancing potential future development commercialisation.
88 Energy's assets on Alaska's North Slope. Note that "New Acreage" refers to Project Leonis, and the eastern segment of Icewine has been renamed to Project Phoenix.
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