On Feb. 1 Oil Search Inc., parent company to Oil Search (Alaska) LLC and a subsidiary of Santos Ltd. since mid-December, submitted an application to the State of Alaska for a pipeline lease right of way to build and operate the "Pikka Sales Oil Pipeline" as part of the "Pikka Development Phase 1 Project."
Although Santos' Feb. 15 release of its successful 2021 results and its brief 2022 guidance provided no significant new information about its Pikka unit development on Alaska's North Slope, the company's Oil Search office in Anchorage continues to work on project planning and permitting (see related page 1 story in the upcoming issue of Petroleum News, which will be emailed to newspaper subscribers later today)
In its Feb. 1 application, Oil Search addressed the issue of timing for first oil, saying nothing new:
* Ice road building and construction staging for the Pikka pipelines is scheduled to begin in 2023, although some preparation activities and survey may occur in 2022.
* Ice road and pad construction is scheduled to begin Q4 2023.
* Pipeline construction will begin in early Q1 2024.
* Planned commencement date for operations of the Pikka Sales Oil Pipeline for transporting sales oil is planned for Q4 2025.
Oil Search said pipeline construction contractors are scheduled to be selected in 2022.
The ROW application was submitted to the State Pipeline Coordinator's Section in the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas.
On Feb. 17 DNR posted a 30-day public notice on the application.
The 22-mile pipeline would transport sales quality oil from the project's Nanushuk Processing Facility, which is approximately 5 miles east of the Colville River and terminate at its tie-in point with the Kuparuk Pipeline Extension (ADL 409027) that is just east of ConocoPhillips's Central Processing Facility 2.
Oil Search requested a 300-foot-wide right of way for construction and a 60-foot-wide ROW for operations.
The proposed construction ROW would occupy approximately 877.5 acres and the operation ROW would occupy roughly 156.6 acres.
The pipeline would be 16 inches in diameter, except at the tie-in point which would be 12 inches, have a maximum allowable operating pressure of 1,480 pounds per square inch gauge and be elevated on vertical support members.
The proposed pipeline ROW crosses tracts under leases held by Oil Search, Mustang Holding and ConocoPhillips.
At the peak of construction, the Pikka Sales Oil Pipeline would require approximately 500 jobs on the North Slope, Oil Search said.
The company has told the Division of Oil and Gas in recent filings that shortly after startup in 2025, the first phase of the Pikka project will produce 80,000 barrels of oil per day.
In its Feb. 1 application the company said the Pikka Sales Oil Pipeline is designed to deliver oil at a rate of 87,000 bpd during Pikka Project Phase 1. And that "additional volume may be achieved during subsequent phases of the project."
- KAY CASHMAN
See full story in Feb. 27 issue of Petroleum News, available online Feb. 24 at www.petroleumnews.com
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