AOGCC amends Pt Thomson IPS report date

Kristen Nelson

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has accepted a proposal by ExxonMobil Alaska Production to amend Rule No. 6 of conservation order 719, changing the due date for a report on results of the initial production system at Point Thomson.

The original rule required the Thomson oil pool operator to submit a results report on the initial production system, IPS, five years after the beginning of sustained production or 12 months before gas sales from Point Thomson.

While production from the Thomson oil pool began in April 2016, the commission said that “during the first two and a half years of production and plant commissioning, the plant was rarely able to produce at full capacity for any length of time and was often offline completely.”

Point Thomson facilities are capable of producing up to 10,000 barrels per day of condensate - with liquids separated from gas and gas reinjected into the field. Over the most recent six months, production averaged in a range from 8,540 bpd (November) to 9,575 bpd (August). This compares to the first six months of the field’s operation, when production had a high of 1,599 bpd in the first month the field was online (April 2016) and a low of 107 bpd in the second month of production (May 2016).

The plant was fully commissioned and operating stably by November 2018, the commission said, but because of “frequent production upsets” prior to that, “data from April 2016 through October 2018 does not provide an accurate means by which to determine the reservoir performance and in turn the viability of the gas cycling project in the TOP.”

The due date for the IPS results report has been adjusted to Nov. 1, 2023, five years after stable production was reached. The commission said that date “will provide a more accurate depiction of reservoir performance than to have it based on 2.5 years of erratic production followed by 2.5 years of steady production.”

ExxonMobil Alaska Production brought the field online and remains the largest working interest owner at the field, holding 62.3%. Hilcorp Alaska, which holds a 36.99% WIO in Point Thomson, took over as field operator at the beginning of the year.

- KRISTEN NELSON