Pantheon Resources PLC (AIM:PANR, OTCQX:PTHRF) chief executive Max Easley and Chief Development Officer Erich Krumanocker spoke with Proactive about the company’s transition from development to production at the Dubhe-1 well in Alaska.
They discussed recent operational milestones, including a large-scale well completion, and outlined next steps as Pantheon targets first production.
Let's take a closer look at what was said:
Proactive: Joining me is Max Easley, CEO of Pantheon Resources. Max, good to see you again.
Max Easley: Great to see you, Steve. Thanks for having us back.
Proactive: Also joining us is your Chief Development Officer, Erich Krumanocker. Erich, good to see you as well.
Erich Krumanocker: Thanks, Steve.
Proactive: Good to have you both here. You’ve got some exciting news. Max, let’s begin with you — talk about the results. You seem happy with what you're seeing.
Erich Krumanocker: Yes, indeed, Steve. As I always say, measure Pantheon by doing the right activities and then getting good results — and this is no exception. We drilled a very long well — nearly 16,000 feet. What we announced today was a large-scale completion of that well. I would say it’s a fantastic but expected result.
This is among the first completions of this scale in Alaska. We brought in suppliers from Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48. The centerpiece was Element Technical Services from Calgary — they actually pumped the job. I think everyone on the North Slope took notice of the quality. We’ll certainly work with them again.
Most importantly, throughout the entire operation, there were no injuries or spills — which is what matters most.
The job itself had eye-popping numbers — 9 million pounds of sand, more than 9 million gallons of water, or 32 million litres. It was done in 25 individual stages, all in less than eight days. I’ve built hundreds of jobs like this in the Permian and Montney — and for a single well in a remote location, this is as good as it gets.
We’ll release a video soon to show the scale and the environment — I think investors will be impressed. But we’re focused on what’s ahead now.
Proactive: Erich, tell us more about the objectives of this well and why it's so important to the company.
Max Easley: Yes, Steve. We've discovered a tremendous amount of hydrocarbon resources, so we know we have a lot in the ground. Right now, we are transitioning from development into our production phase. The Dubhe-1 well provides key information for that planning.
We will get production rates that confirm the commerciality of our oil and natural gas liquids in the field. It will help define our facility designs. It will also prove our gas deliverability for the gas sales agreements we have.
Additionally, we’ll get more detail on the composition of the fluids, particularly the oil, to progress our access to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. This well also helps build confidence with investors, potential strategic partners, and support project financing.
Proactive: Max spelled out some key elements. Erich, what’s next for Dubhe-1?
Erich Krumanocker: Everyone wants to see production. To get there, we need to do a few things. Each of the 25 stages had a small plug, so we need to drill those out. We have a rig on the pad — it’ll move over and run production tubing into the well so we can flow to surface.
Then we’ll set up some production equipment and initiate flow. That’s when we’ll start seeing results. Keep in mind we already injected 9 million gallons of water, so some of that will come back initially. The first-day result won’t be the headline — we’ll communicate with the market over time.
This is the important part now. We’ve done the technically challenging work. Now it’s time for the reservoir to talk.
Proactive: One final question. Max mentioned the safety aspect. These operations can be dangerous, but Pantheon seems to have kept safety at the forefront.
Max Easley: Absolutely. We’ve operated safely and in an environmentally responsible way. There haven’t been any spills. I want to thank the team, our contractors, and suppliers for their tremendous execution — beyond expectations in many areas on Dubhe-1. We’ll continue that high-level focus on quality and look forward to sharing more good news soon.