Hilcorp issued SDI expansion easement

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, has granted an easement to Hilcorp Alaska good for 35 years for the portion of the Satellite Drill Island in the Duck Island unit which contains “facilities and associated infrastructure in support of the Liberty Development Project.”

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a record of decision for the Liberty project in October; a final environmental impact statement was issued for the project in August.

Hilcorp’s plans for Liberty development include a small artificial gravel island in 19 feet of water in the Beaufort Sea, some five miles offshore, about 15 miles east of Prudhoe Bay, with a buried subsea pipeline to carry sales grade crude oil to shore, connecting with the existing Badami pipeline.

Hilcorp Alaska spokeswoman Lori Nelson told Petroleum News in an email the acreage included in the easement would be used as a staging area. Hilcorp is the operator at the Duck Island unit.

The division said the annual fee for the acreage is $103,819.52.

- KRISTEN NELSON