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ConocoPhillips plans pad expansions Wants to increase size of 2 service pads in the Kuparuk field to accommodate increasing maintenance, field development work Alan Bailey Petroleum News
ConocoPhillips has submitted permit applications for the expansion of the Kuparuk Industrial Center, or KIC, pad and the Kuparuk Construction Services, or KCS, pad in the Kuparuk oil field on Alaska’s North Slope. The company says in its applications that the expansions of the two gravel pads would accommodate an increased work load in the field.
The KIC pad houses field support facilities including shops, offices, warehousing, personnel housing and a water treatment plant. The KCS provides shops, storage, and other facilities in support of field activities.
“We are currently evaluating expansion of the KIC and KCS pads to provide additional space for shops, offices, camps, and equipment storage that may be needed to support production-adding and infrastructure renewal activity at Kuparuk” ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Amy Burnett told Petroleum News in a Jan. 22 email. “The expansions are still in the planning stage and have not been approved.”
In its permit application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ConocoPhillips said that the work load at Kuparuk has increased by 4 to 4.5 percent each year over the past 20 years and that the pad expansions would enable the company to increase the efficiency with which the work can be done.
Lack of space At present, because of a lack of space on the KIC pad, ConocoPhillips has to outsource some work to shops in Deadhorse, the application says. Making increasing use of these shops to keep up with work demand adds up to one-and-a-half hours of travel time to a job and increases the potential for a travel accident, increases air emissions and increases operating costs. In particular, the pad expansion would allow equipment to be staged next to shops on the pad when being serviced or maintained.
The 48-acre pad expansion, coupled with a new access road, would allow the placement of several new structures, including construction shops, a well shop and field services shops, according to a ConocoPhillips project description.
A 10-acre expansion of the KCS would enable the placement of a number of new facilities including bulk chemicals tanks, a wells tool shop, an electrical and instrumentation shop and a well house assembly shop.
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