BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. said May 10 that module fabrication work for the company’s Northstar oil field development project will resume by mid-May at fabrication shops and yards in the Anchorage area.
BP said the decision to resume fabrication came as a result of the company’s receipt of a key federal permit authorizing the company to proceed with Northstar development. It was issued last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Module fabrication, by VECO Construction Inc. and Alaska Petroleum Contractors Inc., will generate more than 100 construction jobs in the Anchorage area this year, BP said. The number of jobs will increase to more than 200 in early 2000. Module construction work is scheduled to continue until mid-2001, when the facilities will be sea-lifted to the North Slope for installation.
The five modules being built in Anchorage will be used for warehousing, utilities, housing and oil and gas processing. The largest unit, weighing about 3,500 tons, will be the largest oil field module ever built in Alaska.
Production start-up for the Northstar field is scheduled for late 2001, with island and pipeline construction on the North Slope planned for next winter.
