State issues easement for Pioneer's North Slope project

Pioneer Natural Resources’ Oooguruk project has reached another milestone on the road towards becoming the first independent-operated oil field on Alaska’s North Slope. On March 31, Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas issued an easement and land permit, allowing Pioneer to construct a gathering line and onshore gravel pad in the ConocoPhillips’ operated Kuparuk River unit.

“The proposed easement runs from the boundary of the Oooguruk Unit to Kuparuk Drillsite 3H, a length of approximately 3.5 offshore miles and 2.4 onshore miles,” the division’s easement decision document says.

Pioneer had already announced Feb. 6 that it had approved the Oooguruk development, following the issuance of a U.S. Corps of Engineer’s permit and the issuance of a royalty modification on area leases from the State of Alaska.

ConocoPhillips has agreed that Pioneer can use the Kuparuk River unit road and pad infrastructure to access the Oooguruk sites, although ice roads will also be required both during construction and periodically during operation.

According to the easement decision document the offshore Oooguruk gathering line will be buried and will emerge as an elevated, surface pipeline at a point approximately 300 feet inland of a coastal bluff. The buffer zone behind the bluff allows for potential coastal erosion during the lifetime of the field. Pioneer plans to use a “pipe within a pipe” design for the gathering line, to provide protection against a pipeline leak.

The subsea pipeline will connect with a gravel production island approximately halfway between Thetis Island and the northeast corner of the Colville River delta. In addition to the pipe-in-pipe oil line, the pipeline bundle connecting to the gravel island will involve a gas line, a water injection line and a utility line. Onshore, the gathering line will connect to the Kuparuk River infrastructure at a tie-in pad adjacent to Kuparuk River unit drill site 3H.

The division issued a similar easement decision for Nikaitchuq on March 23, although land access for that project involves complications relating to tidewater leases at Oliktok Point (see “Kerr-McGee gets okay” in the April 2 edition of Petroleum News). And, whereas Kerr-McGee plans to construct its own processing facility for Nikaitchuq, Pioneer plans to process Oooguruk fluids through ConocoPhillips’ Kuparuk facilities.

Kerr-McGee has not yet announced approval for construction to start for Nikaitchuq.

—Alan Bailey