Modules arriveMassive production facilities delivered by barge to the Point Thomson pad ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The massive processing modules for the Point Thomson field on the North Slope have arrived by barge at the field’s central pad, ExxonMobil Corp. said Sept. 8. The modules, which form the main processing facilities for separating condensate from gas and for gas compression, each weigh between 1,500 and 3,000 tons. The modules have been transported from Korea over a 4,000-mile sea route - installation of the modules will keep the field development project on schedule, with startup anticipated in 2016, ExxonMobil said.
“The successful delivery of these modules is the result of ExxonMobil’s disciplined project management expertise and focus on safety,” said Jim Flood, ExxonMobil Development Co’s Arctic vice president. “We have a proven track record of responsible development in the Arctic over the past 90 years and are committed to developing the Point Thomson project in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.”
The Point Thomson field, on the Beaufort Sea coast about 60 miles east of Prudhoe Bay, contains a mixture of natural gas and condensate, a light form of liquid hydrocarbon akin to kerosene or diesel, at exceptionally high pressures. The physics of the fluids in the field reservoir require the reservoir pressure to remain at high levels for the optimum production of the condensate, a product that can be shipped to market through the existing North Slope oil pipeline infrastructure. Consequently, in what ExxonMobil refers to as the initial production system, or IPS, the company is installing field facilities that will separate the condensate from a produced mixture of gas and condensate, before compressing the gas for injection into the reservoir for reservoir pressure maintenance.
Three wells The IPS will use two gas injection wells in the field’s central pad, and a single production well on a western pad. The wells, drilled directionally from the onshore pads, will access different points in the reservoir, which is located under the nearshore waters of the Beaufort Sea. A pipeline will deliver the produced gas/condensate mixture to the newly delivered processing facilities on the central pad. Extracted condensate will be delivered into a pipeline that runs from Point Thomson to the Badami oil pipeline to the west, for shipment to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline system.
Huge compressors will continuously cycle gas through the field reservoir using the injection wells.
The IPS has been designed to produce up to 10,000 barrels per day of condensate.
ExxonMobil says that, as of mid-2015, the company and the other working interest owners had invested $3.2 billion in the Point Thomson IPS development.
With an estimated 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in place, the Point Thomson field will become a vital source of gas for a project for the export of North Slope natural gas via a Cook Inlet liquefied natural gas facility, should this project, known as the AKLNG project, come to fruition. In that case, ExxonMobil plans to start exporting gas from Point Thomson through a project known as gas expansion, or GE, rather than continue with gas cycling in the field. With gas exporting underway, potentially starting in 2025, condensate production would continue, but at a declining rate.
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