The West Foreland undefined gas pools were discovered in 1962 by the Pan American Petroleum Corporation's (“Pan Am”) West Foreland No. 1 oil exploration well. Production tests conducted in two Lower Tyonek sands flowed at rates from 5 to 8 million cubic feet of gas per day. Amoco carried out an extended flow test in February and March of 1984 that yielded 7.7 million cubic feet of gas per day.
In April 2001, the current operator, Forest Oil Corporation (“Forest”), placed West Foreland No. 1 on continuous production from the Tyonek Undefined 4.0 Gas Pool. Production from the pool peaked in November 2003, when the average daily rate reached 3.4 million cubic feet per day. By December 2004, the production from the pool decreased to 2.6 million cubic feet of gas per day.
During 2004, Forest permitted and drilled West Foreland No. 2, a gas development well. A company press release dated February 16, 2005, reported that the well had been drilled upstructure to West Foreland No. 1, and that it had tested 15 million cubic feet of gas per day from two zones.
During December 2004, Forest put West Foreland No. 2 on continuous production from the Tyonek Undefined 4.2 pool, and it averaged 2.8 million cubic feet of gas per day.