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BP plans new operations center for Northstar Project involves fabricating, hauling enormous module by barge to production island in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea; cost not specified Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
BP is applying for state and federal clearance to place a huge new module on its Northstar production island in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea.
The module would house a new operations center with living quarters, an office, shops and cover for an ARKTOS amphibious escape vehicle, a state project description says.
BP plans to start construction in January with project completion scheduled for June 2012, the description says.
Northstar’s distinction
BP’s Northstar field is located about six miles offshore of Prudhoe Bay in joint federal and state waters.
Although it wasn’t the first offshore production site in the Beaufort, the manmade Northstar Island was the first without a causeway connection to the mainland.
Northstar production began in October 2001 and has peaked at 80,000 barrels per day. BP has said the field contained 175 million barrels of recoverable oil.
More project details BP has filed application materials with the state Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Much of the permitting concerns modifications BP says it needs to make to the southeast corner of the island to accommodate the module.
The module is being fabricated “off-site” and will be delivered via barge, the state project description says.
The six-story module, designed to house about 50 people, will have a footprint of about 90 feet by 92 feet, and will weigh about 7 million pounds.
To receive the barge at Northstar, BP proposes some dredging near the island.
The state project description doesn’t specify the cost of the project, or why Northstar needs the new operations center.
“The new module is being designed to provide additional protection in the event of a fire or explosion,” says one BP application letter to the state.
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