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State, feds approve expansion of Northstar unit
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources
Kristen Nelson
Division of Oil and Gas and the U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service have approved an April request by BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. to expand the Northstar unit to include an additional federal lease.
The agencies have not yet agreed to a participating area for initial Northstar production — required before production can begin.
The state’s decision was issued July 13. The MMS decision was issued July 24.
Jeff Walker, regional supervisor of field operations for the MMS, said in the agency’s decision that while MMS approves the addition of federal lease OCS-Y 1645 to the unit, it wants to see some changes in other documentation before approving a participating area.
Division of Oil and Gas Director Mark Myers said in his July 13 decision that BP’s proposed fourth plan of development calls for continued development drilling and completion of processing facilities.
BP plans to drill and complete a total of up to 16 production wells and five gas injection wells with sustained commercial production by Nov. 1, and possibly as early as Sept. 15, Myers said. Expansion area holds estimated 2.3 million barrels The state decision said BP presented geological and geophysical data indicating that the Northstar Ivishak reservoir extends onto additional acreage to the northwest. BP proposed allocating 0.09 percent of the oil in place for the reservoir to the expansion area, some 2.3 million barrels. Production of the additional reserves will be from Seal Island and require no additional wells or surface facilities.
Greenpeace objected to the expansion on the same grounds that it opposed the state and federal approval of Northstar. The state said Greenpeace and others challenged the Northstar projects in several lawsuits filed in 1999 and 2000, which are still pending.
The expansion adds 2,930 acres to the unit, bringing the total unit area to approximately 33,768 acres.
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