Advanced Hydrocarbon Stratigraphy (AHS) Use of Proprietary Rock Volatiles Stratigraphy (RVS) System to Analyze Cutting Samples of Great Bear Pantheon's Exploration Wells on the North Slope
Authors: Smith Christopher M , Smith Michael P , Gordon Patrick S , Smith Timothy M , Duncan Ed 
Published: May 2023

Abstract
Coming into 2021 previous work had identified major potential oil targets throughout the Brookian Campanian Section and in the Kuparuk River Sands of Great Bear Pantheon's (GBP) Talitha and Alkaid units and Theta West leasehold on the North Slope of Alaska which sit immediately adjacent to the Dalton Highway and Tans Alaska Pipeline System approximately 20 miles south of the town of Dead Horse in Prudhoe Bay. These identified targets were based on a combination of previous drilling by ARCO with their Pipeline State 1 well (drilled in 1988) and Alkaid 1 drilled by GBP (drilled in 2015 by Great Bear Petroleum at the time) in addition to 3D seismic owned by GBP. Following Great Bear Petroleum's merger in 2019 with Pantheon Resources to become Great Bear Pantheon and a successful test at the Alkaid 1 well an expanded project of exploration and appraisal wells was launched. This project began with the drilling of the Talitha A exploration well and continued with the Theta West 1 and Alkaid 2 wells. All these wells encountered multiple and significant oil accumulations in the Brookian Campanian Section. A key part of these exploration and appraisal wells was the analysis of sealed at well site and unsealed gently airdried drill cuttings by Rock Volatiles Stratigraphy (RVS) (also known as Volatiles Analysis Service (VAS)) developed by Advanced Hydrocarbon Stratigraphy (AHS). RVS enables the direct measurement of the C1-10 hydrocarbons, water, and several other volatile compounds relevant to evaluating petroleum systems via a gentle extraction, identification, and quantification process on a novel cryo-trap mass spectroscopy system developed in house by AHS. The RVS results have been especially helpful in the analysis of the Brookian Campanian Section given the petrophysically challenging nature of the play, representing an independent measurement relating to hydrocarbons (HC) and water that can be paired with the petrophysics to provide greater confidence in the identification of pay zones. RVS analysis and interpretation is done blind with no additional information beforehand significantly diminishing opportunities for bias in the interpretation of the results before being paired with other datasets. Beyond observations about HC and water content, significant additional information about the petroleum system such as oil quality (API gravity and biological activity), rock/reservoir properties, seals/compartments, and overall strength of the system was provided via RVS. Many of these results were used in the planning of subsequent well site activities like perforations and have been proven accurate in resulting flow tests. When combined with other data like 3D seismic the RVS data enables an immense appreciation of the world class asset that the multiple continuous accumulations in the Brookian Campanian Section of GBP's acreage represents.