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Phillips applies for new drill site at Palm discovery 2001 discovery of 35 million barrels will be processed at Kuparuk; new road, pipelines, will connect drill site 3S to Kuparuk drill site 3G By Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
Phillips Alaska Inc. applied Aug. 20 for permits to build a drill site at the Palm discovery some three miles west of Kuparuk. Phillips said it has also applied to expand the Kuparuk River unit to include the proposed facilities.
Phillips and BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. announced the Palm discovery May 18, and said the Kuparuk accumulation is estimated to contain 35 million barrels of recoverable reserves.
The exploration wells, drilled last winter, found 25 degree API gravity oil at approximately 5,800 feet sub-sea. A sidetrack to the discovery well tested at an unstimulated rate of about 2,500 barrels per day.
Phillips Alaska, operator of the Kuparuk field, holds a 55.29 percent interest; BP Exploration holds a 39.28 percent interest; Unocal, ExxonMobil and Chevron each hold minor interests.
Processing at CPF3 Oil from the Palm location, designated drill site 3S, would go to Kuparuk central production facility No. 3 for processing. Drill site 3S is approximately 4.9 miles from drill site 3G at Kuparuk, and a gravel road and pipelines would connect DS 3S to Kuparuk at drill site 3G.
The project will require 282,000 cubic yards of gravel, 82,000 cubic yards for the pad and 200,000 cubic yards for the road.
Phillips said drill site 3S would have space for 16 to 20 development wells and a pipeline pig receiving facility.
Three new pipelines would transport water, miscible injectant and produced fluids between drill site 3S and drill site 3G. A 16-inch line would carry produced fluids to drill site 3G and two eight-inch lines would carry miscible injectant and water from drill site 3G to drill site 3S.
Pipelines will be elevated to a minimum of seven feet above the tundra to mitigate impacts to caribou and human passage. The pipeline will parallel the road at a distance of at least 450 feet but a maximum of 1,000 feet to allow for visual surveillance.
Phillips said it is proposing an overhead power line, with the last 150 feet of the power line onto the pad buried in a trench. Phillips said it is also evaluating a buried power line or a power line on the pipeline.
Phillips has three alternate drill site locations, all in sections 17 and 18 of 12N-8E, UM. The development project — road, pipelines and pad — is in sections 17, 18 and 20-24 of 12N-8E, UM.
Kuparuk formerly included area Phillips said that the Kuparuk River unit at one time included the Palm discovery area but the unit boundary was contracted. Phillips said it will apply for re-expansion of the Kuparuk River unit boundary to include Palm.
The drill site will not require 24-hour operational oversight, but Phillips said year-round road access is required for daily operator checks and maintenance activities on the facilities and on the wells.
Construction of the drill site and access road are scheduled to begin in January. Phillips said three ice roads will be built in 2001-02 to support construction of the road, pipelines and power line. Installation of pipelines and power lines will take place in the first and second quarters of 2002, and drilling will begin in the third or fourth quarters of 2002, with construction scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2002 and the initial phase of drilling, 13 wells, to be completed in the third or fourth quarter of 2003.
Phillips will use a single drill rig and estimates peak production of 16,000 barrels per day with artificial lift.
Phillips said no processing is planned for drill site 3S, but it may install facilities for gas separation in the future.
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