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Various Slope facility projects in works
ConocoPhillips working on Kuparuk DS-2U maintenance pad, Kuparuk River landing strip; Hilcorp expanding Milne Point Tract 14 Pad
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Three North Slope facility projects are approved or in the works, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas. The division has approved ConocoPhillips Alaska's maintenance pad expansion at the Kuparuk River unit, and two other projects are out for public comment: a plan of operations amendment by ConocoPhillips to add a taxiway to its Kuparuk landing area and a unit plan of operations amendment application from Hilcorp Alaska to expand the Tract 14 Pad at Milne Point and install a heating system.
Kuparuk maintenance pad expansion On June 30 the division approved expansion of ConocoPhillips' DS-2U maintenance pad at the Kuparuk River unit.
The division said the request is to add some 0.03 acres, with placement of some 450 cubic yards of gravel on the west side of the maintenance pad, northeast of the previously expanded maintenance pad area. A map of the work shows the maintenance pad southeast of the DS-2U production pad.
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission production data for May, the most recent available, show seven wells currently producing at the DS-2U Pad.
The division said expansion of the maintenance pad "will provide additional space to support a pigging module and appurtenances to support pipeline operations and maintenance activities."
Kuparuk airstrip taxiway The division is asking for public comments by July 28 on a unit plan of operations amendment by ConocoPhillips to add a taxiway at its Kuparuk Landing Strip. The landing strip is directly north of Kuparuk Operations Center and 28 miles west of the Deadhorse Airport.
The company is applying to lay 10,300 cubic yards of gravel on 0.08 acres of tundra to add a taxiway at the Kuparuk Landing Strip. The taxiway would alleviate aircraft congestion and improve operational safety, the division said.
Insulation would be installed prior to laying gravel. The new gravel would be trenched to install a power cable for aircraft safety lighting along the taxiway and for a culvert for drainage.
In a June 9 request to the division, ConocoPhillips said addition of the taxiway would "improve operational safety for both passenger and cargo aircraft traffic."
The work would begin Aug. 1, with gravel fill and culvert installation followed by trenching of constructed gravel, power cable installation and taxiway safety lighting installation, with the work proposed to be completed by Oct. 31.
ConocoPhillips said the gravel would be placed between the existing airstrip and the airstrip apron "to provide additional aircraft access to the airstrip apron area."
Milne Tract 14 Pad expansion The division is requesting comments by July 29 on Hilcorp Alaska's plan of operations amendment proposal to expand the Milne Point Tract 14 Pad and install a heater system.
In a June 17 request Hilcorp said the work would expand the Tract 14 Pad, install vertical support members, a heater with air intake, vessel, shell and tube heat exchanger, associated electrical components and piping.
Hilcorp said the pad expansion is "necessary to provide space for the placement of a heater system while maintaining a safe amount of area for maintenance of facility, field related transportation, and rig moves through the junction."
The company is proposing to place no more than 5,500 cubic yards of gravel onto some 0.6 acres adjacent to the existing Tract 14 pad, a triangle some 140 feet by 280 feet north of the existing pad.
Gravel laying is proposed for Aug. 1 through Oct. 1; installation of VSMs for heater and listed facility equipment from Dec. 15 through Feb. 1, 2026; and placement of heater and listed facility equipment from March 1 through April 1 of 2026.
In a project description Hilcorp said: "The heater will be powered via raw gas from connections to the facilities at Tract 14." Fourteen 12-inch VSMs will support a 20-foot by 70-foot module with electrical components and hot oil pumps. Four 12-inch VSMs will support a 5,000-gallon surge vessel some 7 by 16 feet. Six 12-inch VSMs will support two 60 million British thermal units/hour tube heat exchanger and shell each 4 by 24 feet.
Four-inch diameter pipe, no more than 250 feet, will provide fuel gas to the heater, tube heat exchanger, vessel, hot oil pups and electrical controls. Six hundred feet of 14-inch diameter production pipe will connect existing facilities to the tube heat exchangers, with no more than 400 feet of 10-inch hot oil pipe connecting the hot oil pumps to existing facilities, and no more than 250 feet of 2-inch-diameter pipe from the burner to existing facilities for Fireye safety system.
Pipe supports about every 20 feet will support hot oil and production pipe on as many as 18 12-inch VSMs.
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