NEWS BULLETIN

September 21, 2012 --- Vol. 18, No. 74September 2012

State proposes pipeline right of way for Exxon’s Point Thomson project

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is proposing to grant ExxonMobil a right-of-way lease for a 22-mile pipeline across state land to carry petroleum liquids from the planned Point Thomson development.

The pipeline right of way is one of the major authorizations Exxon Mobil needs for the eastern North Slope project to produce natural gas condensate. The company still needs a key wetlands permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

State Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan signed the proposed lease decision Sept. 19 for the Point Thomson Export Pipeline. The decision finds that ExxonMobil is “fit, willing and able to construct and operate a pipeline in a manner required by present and future public interest,” a state public notice says.

The department will now take public comment on the proposed lease, and will hold public hearings in Fairbanks and the North Slope villages of Barrow, Nuiqsut and Kaktovik.

The above-ground pipeline will run just inland along the Beaufort Sea coast. It will connect the main, or central, production pad at Point Thomson with an existing oil pipeline at the Badami field to the west.

With an outside diameter of 12.75 inches, the pipeline is designed for a maximum throughput of 70,000 barrels a day, although ExxonMobil is planning initial daily production of only 10,000 barrels.

The company aims to begin production by the winter of 2015-16.

Find the commissioner’s Point Thomson pipeline analysis and proposed decision at http://dnr.alaska.gov/commis/pco/.

—Wesley Loy

See story in Sept. 30 issue, available online on Friday, Sept. 28 at 11 a.m. at www.PetroleumNews.com


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