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North Slope transportation in the 21st century Peak Oilfield Service’s new all-terrain vehicles carry large loads across the tundra to sites far from infrastructure Alan Bailey Petroleum News Staff Writer
To support operations in ever more remote places on Alaska’s North Slope, Peak Oilfield Service Co. has added two new all-terrain vehicles to the company’s fleet. The company has designed and built these vehicles to handle loads of up to 125,000 pounds and has tested the vehicles with loads up to 110,000 pounds, Patrick Walsh, vice president of Peak Oilfield Service, told Petroleum News.
“We had two all-terrain vehicles … designed and built in an attempt to look out into the future,” Walsh said. “We’re seeing exploration going further and further away from infrastructure. We need some ways of supporting our remote sites.”
The new vehicles can carry heavy equipment or move supplies such as fuel and drilling mud for remote drilling operations.
Like “ships of the tundra” these behemoths carry their huge loads across roadless terrain without marking the ground. With gigantic tires in the form of airbags the vehicles only exert a pressure of two to three pounds per square inch on the ground. Friction drive through rollers on the airbags ensures that the wheels will not spin on the ground. Independent suspension, all-wheel drive and lockable differentials enable the vehicles to negotiate rough terrain. Increasing the loads The main innovation in Peak’s new vehicles is an ability to carry substantially heavier loads than earlier designs.
“They’ve got 10 bags under the tractor and six bags under the trailer,” Walsh said. Older models have fewer airbags — the extra airbags in the new design distribute the load across a larger ground area, he explained.
Using techniques such as finite element analysis designers came up with a fifth wheel-style tractor-trailer configuration for the new vehicles. The tractor uses articulated steering and the trailer deck is 50 feet long. An engine on the tractor and another on the trailer deliver power to all of the wheels through a system of drive shafts and differentials.
New Caterpillar engines meet environmental regulations and are tuned to deliver about 425 horsepower.
“We’ve put the new Cat C-15 motors in them so we’re compliant with the tier two air quality permits which are coming out,” Walsh said. Approved for tundra travel The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has approved the new vehicles for summer tundra travel.
“There’s only a couple of different types of vehicle that are approved,” Walsh said. “One is the all-terrain vehicle with a bag and drive roller on top of it and then the other is a Tucker (with tundra pattern tracks).”
Approval for summer tundra travel means that the vehicles can operate on state land on the North Slope after July 15 each year, long before the opening of the winter tundra travel season.
Unlike the state, BLM does not allow summer tundra travel on federal land. However, the all-terrain vehicles still enable off-road transportation on federal land during the winter season. Proactive transportation The ability to travel on the tundra in the summer can enable Peak to start constructing ice roads on state land several weeks before the winter tundra travel season opens. This early start provides a tremendous benefit, given the short winter travel season, Walsh said.
“That’s a proactive measure as far as the contractor’s concerned to assist in lengthening the drill season,” he said.
If, for example, there’s a substantial snowfall in October, the all-terrain vehicles can pack down a trail. The packing of the snow reduces the insulation provided by the snow cover and causes the underlying ground to freeze faster along an ice road route.
State officials will then test the freezing conditions to determine whether conventional vehicles can move in to start ice road construction.
“Usually you’ll get a special permit just on your road route to start constructing an ice road,” Walsh said.
Walsh also said that his company is being proactive in preparing for possible exploration to the east of Prudhoe Bay. There’s less water available to the east for ice road construction, he said. In this type of situation Walsh sees a need for all-terrain vehicles to shuttle loads for ice pad and airstrip construction. And drilling operations many miles from any form of road will require continuous transportation services.
“I think that you’re going to have to come up with multiple modes of transportation,” he said. “You have to have (transportation) options — these (vehicles) are an option and I think it’s a good option.”
In fact Walsh views his company’s investment in the research and development of new vehicle designs as a commitment to the future transportation needs of the Alaska oil and gas industry.
“I look at it as a commitment because I think there’s a tremendous future (in Alaska),” Walsh said. “We are exploring for resources further away from the infrastructure, but to me that’s smart business — you don’t run your car out of gas and then look for a gas station.”
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