State approves operation plan amendments
Two for Hilcorp for Cook Inlet platforms A, Granite Point; 2 for ConocoPhillips at North Slope Colville River, Kuparuk River units Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Amendments to plans of operations in Cook Inlet and on the North Slope have been approved by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas.
Two of the plan amendments are for work proposed by Hilcorp Alaska in Cook Inlet; two are for work by ConocoPhillips Alaska on the North Slope.
In Cook Inlet, Hilcorp plans to install anode sleds at two platforms: Platform A in the Middle Ground Shoal unit and the Granite Point Platform in the Granite Point unit.
Work at the two platforms is the same: the company plans to install five anode sleds for cathode protection at each platform, with the anode sleds in each case to be placed by divers some 200 feet away from the platform legs. The divers will also place Sea-Crete bags to stabilize and protect the anodes from tidal forces, the division said in its May 25 approvals of the work. Heavy duty cables will run along the sea floor to connect the sleds to the platform legs and up through the J-tube.
Platform A is some 8 miles west of Boulder Point; the Granite Point Platform is some 3-1/2 miles south of Granite Point.
North Slope approvals On May 24 the division approved a plan of operations amendment for ConocoPhillips Alaska, operator of the Kuparuk River unit, for an air monitoring station installation at the KRU CPF-1, on the western side of the CPF-1 pad, east of the KOC reservoir.
Air monitoring will be conducted for up to 18 months, the division said, and then the station and equipment will be removed.
Typical construction equipment will be used, with all work, which is expected to begin by July 1, on the existing gravel pad.
On May 25 the division approved a request from ConocoPhillips to update portable tanks on the inventory list for pads CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4, CD5 and the Kuukpik pad at the Colville River unit. The division said the authorization allows the company to move existing portable tanks from site to site to respond to operations, production and drilling activities.
The tanks have capacities up to 600 barrels. The division said they would contain standard liquids for North Slope operations, "such as diesel, crude, drilling wastes (e.g. cuttings and muds) and other hydrocarbon products, recycled water, mineral oil, brine, seawater, methanol, corrosion inhibitor, scale inhibitor, emulsion breaker, glycol, mutual solvent, and foam inhibitor, as well as other fluid used in well drilling, well workovers, well treatments, and associated well operations."
The tanks are temporary and will be used for projects until the contents have been depleted or are no longer in use and will be "removed from service and left in place until they are required elsewhere," the division said.
All the tanks will have secondary containment.
Work will be performed on pad, with project work scheduled to begin June 1, with tanks in use until the end of field life.
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