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ConocoPhillips files for CD-5 corps permits Company tells Corps of Engineers it now believes CD-5 reservoir will support cost of Nigliq Channel bridge; CD-6 sub economic Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
ConocoPhillips Alaska has told the Corps of Engineers it now believes the CD-5 Alpine satellite will support the cost of a bridge across the Nigliq Channel, but has determined CD-6 is economically marginal and may not function as a standalone project.
This is a change, the corps noted, from information provided by the company when environmental impact statement work was done in 2003 and 2004. At that time ConocoPhillips believed CD-5 would be marginal in relation to revenue generated, and would not, by itself, support construction of the Nigliq Channel bridge.
“Further testing and resulting additional information from (ConocoPhillips Alaska) suggests that the target reservoir will produce a greater economic return and CD-5 can now exist as a standalone project and can economically support the construction of the Nigliq Channel bridge,” the corps said in an Oct. 25 notice.
The corps said it expects permit applications for CD-6 (the Lookout discovery) and CD-7 (the Spark discovery) “to be submitted at an unknown future date once additional planning work has been completed on those projects.” The present application is for CD-5 work only, but the corps said some potential affects of CD-6 and CD-7 will have to be addressed. “Currently, CPAI has determined that the CD-6 project is economically marginal and may not function as a standalone project,” while no new information has been provided on CD-7, the corps said. Applications for gravel work, bridge construction The application to the corps is for gravel work, and to the U.S. Coast Guard for a bridge permit for its CD-5 drilling pad, access road, pipelines and vertical support members and Nigliq Channel bridge.
The bridge will be a 1,250-foot, 175-ton capacity box girder-type combination vehicular and pipeline support bridge across the Nigliq Channel of the Colville River. The corps said the bridge will be used to access ConocoPhillips’ proposed CD-5 satellite drill site “and possible future oil and gas projects in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.”
There will also be an 80-foot, 175-ton capacity bridge over an un-named paleochannel.
The entire project, including a small extension of the CD-2 pad to add a manual valve and pigging module, will cover 45.1 acres and use 532,119 cubic yards of fill.
The Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and the State of Alaska did an environmental impact statement for five proposed drill sites (CD-3 through CD-7). A final EIS was issued in September 2004 and the BLM’s record of decision was issued for the two satellites on BLM lands, CD-6 and CD-7, was issued in November 2004.
In August 2004 ConocoPhillips requested prioritization of permits for CD-3 and CD-4. Most permits were issued by December 2004 and construction of CD-3 and CD-4 began in January 2005.
Work is expected to be completed this winter on CD-3 and CD-4. CD-5 construction schedule The corps said the proposed construction schedule for CD-5 has construction of the gravel access road, drill pad, bridge piers and substructure beginning the first quarter 2007. Gravel work would continue in the summer of 2007, and the bridge decking would be laid.
Vertical support members and pipelines would be installed in the first quarter of 2008; on-pad facilities would be constructed in the second and third quarters of 2008; drilling would begin in the second quarter of 2008; and production would begin in the fourth quarter of 2008. Drilling would continue for an estimated 12 to 16 months.
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