Hilcorp seeking E pad expansion at Milne

Hilcorp Alaska LLC wants to expand a drilling pad at the Milne Point unit to support an eight-well development program at the onshore North Slope oil and natural gas field.

The local subsidiary of the Texas-based independent is asking to add approximately 1.59 acres to the Milne Point E pad to accommodate a drill rig for a development program.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is taking comments through Oct. 26.

Standard Oil Company of California built the E pad in 1969, as it was exploring the area northwest of the Prudhoe Bay unit. Conoco Inc. re-built the pad in 1984, when it was delineating the field and preparing to bring the unit into production. The second iteration minimized the gravel footprint of the pad to match the scale of development at the time, according to a recent Hilcorp filing. “We are now adding more wells and infrastructure, which will require an extension to the gravel footprint,” the company wrote. “The rigs currently used are larger than the ones used when the pad was constructed. When the larger drill rigs are positioned on the wellheads additional space to the edge of the pad is required for the drill rigs and workover rigs. The wells at Milne need to be worked over frequently throughout the year. The larger drill rigs are also used to work over wells.”

Hilcorp wants to begin placing gravel in the area this November and complete “compaction and seasoning of the gravel expansion” by October 2017. The drilling program would begin in May 2017 and continue through the end of 2018.

Earlier this year, Hilcorp also proposed expansion of B pad and L pad at the unit.

- ERIC LIDJI