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KKPL requests Kasilof pipeline approval RCA asked for expedited consideration so clearing activities can by finished by mid-April, allowing production to begin this fall By Alan Bailey Petroleum News
Kenai Kachemak Pipeline LLC has filed a motion with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to expedite consideration of a petition for temporary authority, and/or an amended certificate of public convenience and necessity, to construct a 4.2-mile pipeline connecting the Kenai Kachemak Pipeline to the Kasilof gas field on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Kenai Kachemak Pipeline LLC is jointly owned by subsidiaries of Marathon Oil Corp. and Chevron.
In August 2005 John Barnes, Marathon’s Alaska business unit leader, told Petroleum News that Marathon planned to bring the Kasilof field into production in December 2006. But according to the plan submitted with the RCA filing Marathon now plans to start field production in October.
An open season for firm transportation services on the new pipeline ended Jan. 9. Next to Cohoe Loop Road The 6-inch diameter pipeline will extend west from approximately milepost 114 of the Sterling Highway to the Kasilof pad, adjoining the Cohoe Loop Road and the Cook Inlet coast at section 28, township 3 north, range 12 west of the Seward meridian, according to information in the RCA filing. Almost the entire length of the pipeline will lie within the state right of way of South Cohoe Loop Road. The pipeline will be buried in a 60-foot wide right of way, widened at stream and river crossings to accommodate directional drilling under the water bodies.
Marathon has requested expedited consideration of its petition, so that clearing of the pipeline right of way can commence no later than March 17. That timing will enable clearing to be completed by April 15, to avoid any impacts on bird nesting activities in the area.
“If the project cannot begin clearing activities in time to finish by April 15, 2006, it will have to be postponed until after July 15, 2006, in order to allow birds to fledge their young,” Marathon Project Engineer Craig Keppers said in an affidavit included in the filing.
Following clearing of the right of way, the project team will directionally drill stream and river crossings and start laying the pipeline. Once the pipeline is in position, hydro testing will be done before gas production at Kasilof commences. Potential for delay Delaying the right-of-way clearing into July would push pipeline completion from October into December, so that hydro testing of the pipeline would occur in freezing temperatures, Keppers said. That could delay project completion until the spring of 2007, he said.
Kenai Kachemak Pipeline LLC cites the urgent need to bring new gas supplies on line in the Cook Inlet area as justification for the issuance of a temporary certificate of public convenience and necessity for the pipeline. The company says that, although Alaska statutes require RCA to issue a certificate prior to construction of a pipeline, the statutes also give the commission discretion to issue a temporary certificate “in cases of emergency, to assure maintenance of adequate service to particular customers.” The company also points out that RCA has already proposed amended regulations to differentiate the application requirements for a certificate for pipeline construction from those for a certificate for pipeline operation.
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