The third plan of development for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.’s Northstar project was approved Feb. 20 by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. The plan for the unit outlines a three-year timeline that provides for oil production in the first quarter of 2001. The U.S. Minerals Management Service told PNA that it is in the process of approving a three-year suspension of production for the Beaufort Sea unit, which contains both federal and state leases.
Northstar’s new plan outlines a six-part program that encompasses engineering, procurement and fabrication; an environmental impact statement and permitting; the formation of a participating area; island construction and pipeline installation; transport and installation; and rig modification and mobilization. Most of the engineering, procurement, fabrication and permitting are scheduled for next year.
Discussions and review of the participating area will continue through this year with the final decision due in the third quarter of 1999. Island construction and pipeline installation will begin next year and be completed in 2000.
A sealift to transport the facilities is set for third quarter 2000. Rig modification and mobilization are marked for for early 2000.
Critical risks cited in the plan are the completion of the EIS and resolution of a lawsuit filed on Jan. 28, 1997, by Clyde Baxley and the Republican Moderate Party that challenges revisions in the field’s lease terms that were ratified by the Alaska Legislature and signed by the governor in 1996. The Superior Court ruled against the plaintiffs. The case was then appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court which is expected to issue a decision shortly.
The EIS process has been under way for two years. Dames and Moore is the contractor responsible for drafting it for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Combined estimated costs for the Northstar plan of development are $430 million.
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Unocal buys out Alliance at proposed Nikolaevsk exploration unit
ANS January production down 3 percent; Cook Inlet up 8 percent
January Alaska North Slope crude oil production was off 2.88 percent from December production, averaging 1,004,054 barrels per day compared to a December average of 1,033,814 bpd. January to December production dropped at all North Slope fields, from less than 1 percent at Lisburne to more than 11 percent at Northstar.
The opposite was true in Southcentral Alaska, where overall Cook Inlet January production — driven by Forest Oil Corp.'s new Redoubt Shoal production — was up 7.84 percent from December.
The Department of Revenue noted several reasons for reduced North Slope production: Milne Point had a turbine problem early in the month, with production (which averaged 52,732 bpd in December) dropping as low as 36,018 bpd before ramping back up into the 50,000-bpd range on the 10th. Alpine production was down Jan. 8 due to a prover meter malfunction (dropping out of the 100,000-bpd range to 72,409 bpd). Badami production was down the week of Jan. 13 in preparation for introduction of a smart pig later in the year; and Northstar output was at zero Jan. 9-13 for compressor seal replacement.
The Department of Revenue does not report Cook Inlet production by field, but Gary Carlson, Forest Oil's senior vice president, told PNA in January that the company can process 3,000 bpd from Redoubt through its West McArthur River unit facilities. Production will increase once the company's dedicated Redoubt Shoal facilities at Kustatan come online later this year.
January Cook Inlet production averaged 32,285 bpd, up from 29,937 bpd in December, an increase of 2,348 bpd.
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