As Scott Jepsen predicted in his presentation at the Resource Development Council in November, today the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced its intention to open a new public comment period for ConocoPhillips Alaska's proposed Willow Master Development Plan, based on changes made by the company in response to multiple stakeholder concerns and public comments.
A ConocoPhillips Alaska senior vice president, Jepsen said "one of the more contentious elements of our plan was our desire to build an offshore gravel island" where the company would bring in modules in the summer "and then build an ice road down to our location in the wintertime."
ConocoPhillips, he said, came up with another option to "bring the modules ashore at Oliktok Point" and transport them to Willow "via a combination of ice roads and gravel roads," which was something the company did not initially think it could do.
"But we've done a lot more work since the initial submission and think this could actually work," Jepsen said.
The Willow project proposal, BLM said in its press release this morning, includes the construction, operation and maintenance of an oil and gas development within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that may include one central processing facility, an infrastructure pad, up to five drill pads with up to 50 wells on each pad, access and infield roads, an airstrip, pipelines and a gravel mine. Willow is "anticipated to have a peak production of 130,000 barrels of oil per day over its 30-year life (producing approximately 590 million barrels of oil) and would help offset declines in production from the North Slope oil fields and contribute to the local, state and national economies."
The supplemental draft EIS, BLM said, would primarily address a revision that removes construction of a module transfer island previously analyzed in Alternative B of the draft EIS. ConocoPhillips' new proposal replaces construction of the island with a plan to transport modules via sealift barge to an existing dock at Oliktok Point "for ice road transport across the Colville River near Ocean Point."
The agency expects to have the supplemental draft EIS available for review and comment in "Spring 2020."
For a link to the Willow Master Development Plan Environmental Impact Statement site, along with all other current BLM Alaska planning efforts, visit www.blm.gov/alaska/comment123.
- KAY CASHMAN
See story in Jan. 12 issue, available online Friday, Jan. 10 at www.PetroleumNews.com.
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