First operator class sees hands on

Point Thomson production modules being built in Korea; pier, landing strip, mine in place; pipeline work to be finished this winter

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

ExxonMobil Production Co. is working both facilities and personnel for its Point Thomson development.

The company’s Alaska production manager, Karen Hagedorn, and its Point Thomson construction manager, Bryan Johnson, briefed the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Nov. 18 on progress to date and upcoming work, essentially an update on briefings ExxonMobil has given earlier (see story in Sept. 22 issue of Petroleum News).

Hagedorn stressed the significance of the new infrastructure ExxonMobil is putting in place on the eastern side of the North Slope, describing it as “opening up a new portion of the North Slope.”

It’s something that’s happened before, she said, with one investment in a development facilitating the one after that.

In addition to some 65 contractors and hundreds of workers involved in the construction phase — more than 500 people on site last winter and more than 600 this winter — Hagedorn said that as production manager, she is “actively developing the organization that will be operating Point Thomson for the long term.”

The first class of 11 trainee operators — all Alaskans — have been in classroom training for about six months in Anchorage, she said. And because Point Thomson is a high-pressure gas field, with important safety and process training required, the trainees have started on-the-job training out of a high-pressure gas facility in Mobile Bay, Alabama.

Johnson detailed companies working on the project, and laid out upcoming work.

This winter, he said, the company will complete the pipeline to Badami, as well as gathering lines; build three more bridges — one was completed last year; complete existing pad work; and build the west pad.

Work completed last winter and summer included opening the gravel mine and gravel placement; placement of 2,200 vertical support members for the pipeline; putting a permanent pier in place for barge deliveries; completion of the camp; and commissioning of the airstrip.

With the airstrip commissioned workers can now fly direct to Point Thomson, Johnson said. Prior to that, they had to fly into Deadhorse and go out to Point Thomson by helicopter.

He said completion of the pier makes way for delivery of production modules under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea. They will arrive in the summer of 2015. A drilling rig will be moved back out to Point Thomson in early 2015.

With facilities complete, first production of condensates from the field into the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is planned for early 2016.