Hydrology holds up Alpine final EIS

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News editor-in-chief

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources said July 21 that because of holdups in the final environmental impact statement for Alpine satellite development — due to agency requests for more information on hydrology — ConocoPhillips Alaska has asked the state to suspend Alaska Coastal Management Program project review.

The state said ConocoPhillips requested a Sept. 1 restart for project review, to allow time for the final EIS to be sent to the printers when the additional hydrology information is complete.

The federal Bureau of Land Management, the lead agency for the EIS, said the request for the additional information came from all the cooperating agencies, state and federal.

As this issue of Petroleum News went to press July 22, ConocoPhillips was checking on whether the suspension of the review until Sept. 1 would affect its work plans for this winter.

ConocoPhillips has said it will not sanction the project until it has regulatory approvals in hand, but had indicated in regulatory filings that Alpine satellite work could begin this winter at Fiord and Nanuq, north and south of existing Alpine facilities in the Colville River unit, with production from those satellites as early as 2006.

The final EIS had been expected out in early July, but BLM said July 7 that it had been delayed until the end of August, citing the need for additional hydrology information.