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Step ahead for Willow
BLM issues draft EIS for big NPR-A project; ConocoPhillips projecting 2021 FID
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management issued a draft environmental impact statement for ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Willow development project Aug. 23 and said among the alternatives considered it prefers the company’s proposed plan.
BLM is seeking public input on the draft EIS for the proposed Willow Master Development Plan in the Bear Tooth Unit in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which it manages (see public meetings schedule in sidebar).
ConocoPhillips submitted the plan in May 2018 and BLM held six public scoping meetings on the proposal.
There is a 45 day review period for the Willow master development plan DEIS, beginning Aug. 30 when notice is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register, and ending Oct. 15.
ConocoPhillips said in a July 30 conference call that it was sizing facilities for the Willow project and expected to get to a final investment decision 2021, with first oil in the 2025-26 timeframe.
BLM said ConocoPhillips Alaska expects peak production of up to 130,000 barrels per day of oil over a 30-year life, with a total production of some 590 million barrels of oil.
“This Master Development Plan proposal allows us to look at the development of a lease unit as a whole which will enhance efficiencies and provide for robust environmental review,” BLM Alaska State Director Chad Padgett said in a statement. “Because of the complexity of this project, we are seeking input from communities in the North Slope as well as Anchorage and Fairbanks,” he said.
BLM prefers Conoco proposal The Willow master development plan DEIS includes a no action alternative and three action alternatives.
BLM said once there is a final EIS and a record of decision issued, ConocoPhillips may submit applications for the project components, which include: up to five drill sites, a central processing facility, an operations center pad, up to 38.2 miles of gravel roads, up to 698.8 miles of ice roads during construction and up to 215.6 miles of resupply ice roads during operations, one to two airstrips (depending on the alternative), up to 336.5 miles of pipelines (on 94.3 miles of new piperack) and a gravel mine on federal lands in NPR-A. The company would permit a module transfer island through the state on state of Alaska submerged lands.
BLM said the purpose of ConocoPhillips’ proposed action “is to construct the infrastructure necessary to allow the production and transportation to market of federal oil and gas resources under leaseholds in the northeast area of the NPR-A,” consistent with ConocoPhillips’ “federal oil and gas lease and unit obligations.”
The agency said under the no action alternative, Alternative A, the project would not be constructed, hence that alternative would not meet the project’s purpose.
Alternative B is ConocoPhillips’ proposal, and includes 38.2 miles of gravel road and seven bridges connecting five drill sites to the Greater Mooses Tooth 2 development, with multiphase pipelines connecting individual drill sites to the Willow processing facility and export/import pipelines connecting the Willow processing facility to existing North Slope infrastructure.
Diesel would be trucked from the Alpine development and a single airstrip would be located at the Willow operations center. The total gravel footprint would be 442.7 acres. Sealift module delivery would be from a module transfer island at Atigaru Point or Point Lonely.
BLM said ConocoPhillips developed this alternative “to provide a gravel access road from the existing gravel rod network in the GMT and Alpine developments” to Willow facilities.
“Alternative B is BLM’s preferred alternative,” the agency said.
Alternatives C, D Alternatives C and D were developed for the draft EIS.
Alternative C would have the same gravel road between GMT-2 and Willow but would not have a gravel road connection from Willow to Bear Tooth drill site 1. A gravel road would connect the BT1 drill site with Bear Tooth drill site 4, for a total of 36.8 miles of gravel roads and six bridges. An ice road would be constructed annually from the Willow processing facility to BT1 and a second airstrip, storage and staging facilities, and camp would be located near Bear Tooth drill site 2.
The Willow processing facility, south Willow operations center and primary airstrip would be some 5 miles east of their location in Alternative B, near the eastern Bear Tooth unit boundary and a diesel pipeline would provide fuel from Kuparuk central processing facility 2 to the north and south Willow operation centers. The gravel footprint for Alternative C would be 487.8 acres. The agency said the intent of Alternative C is to reduce effects to caribou movement and decrease stream crossings, while further reducing impacts to subsistence users of the resources.
BLM said Alternative D would not have gravel road access from GMT-2 but would have the same gravel infield roads as Alternative B, with six bridges, a total of 28.3 miles of gravel roads.
Annual resupply for Willow would be by ice road between GMT-2 and the Willow processing facility, 9.8 miles. Bear Tooth drill site 3 would be collated with the Willow processing facility, as in Alternative B, and there would be five drill sites and a single airstrip. A diesel pipeline would move fuel from Kuparuk central processing facility 2 to the WOC, similar to Alternative C. The total gravel footprint would be 410.7 acres. As with Alternatives B and C, sealift module delivery would be from a module transfer island.
BLM said the intent of Alternative D is to minimize the footprint and fill required, reduce the number of bridges and decrease effects to caribou movement and subsistence.
Sealift module delivery options BLM described two options for sealift module delivery and said six sealift barges are expected to be needed to deliver large, prefabricated modules to the North Slope. Both options would require construction of a gravel island with a 5 to 10 year design life.
Option 1, ConocoPhillips’ proposal, is for construction of the module transfer island, MTI, some 2.4 miles offshore in Harrison Bay near Atigaru Point. Gravel for the island would be sourced from the Tinmiaqsiugvik mine site and would provide a gravel work surface of some 8.3 acres with a 12.8 acre overall gravel footprint.
BLM said modules would be barged to the MTI in the summer and stored until winter when they would be transported to the project site via ice road, with 117.1 miles of ice road required.
“The summer following the final sealift module delivery, the island would be abandoned, and all facilities and anthropogenic materials would be removed, including the gravel slope protection,” BLM said. The top of the island is expected to drop below the water surface in 10 to 20 years.
This option provides the shortest delivery route without requiring dredging or additional marine impacts. BLM said Option 1 is its preferred module delivery option.
Option 2 would put a 13 acre MTI some 0.6 mile offshore at Point Lonely, requiring 229.7 miles of ice road to support MTI construction and module transport to the Willow project area. BLM said the intent of the option is to move the MTI away from Nuiqsut’s high subsistence use area and utilize existing onshore gravel infrastructure at Point Lonely, a former Department of Defense site, for staging purposes.
Schedule and logistics BLM said timing of Willow development is based on factors such as permitting and other regulatory approvals, sanctioning of the project and purchase and fabrication of long lead time components. The agency said ConocoPhillips plans to construct the project over some 7 to 9 years, depending on the alternative, beginning in the first quarter of 2021. The Willow processing facility is anticipated to come online in the fourth quarter of 2024 with first oil for Alternatives B and C, and in the first quarter of 2025 for Alternative D. Operations are expected to run through 2050 for Alternatives B and C, and through 2052 for Alternative D.
In the construction phase, gravel mining and placement would be almost entirely in winter, with prepacking snow and constructing ice roads to access the gravel mine site and gravel road and pad locations in December and January, and ice roads expected to be available for use by Feb. 1.
Initial construction would include BT1, BT2, BT3, roads, the Willow production facility, the Willow operations center and the airstrip. Gravel would be mined and placed during winter for the first 3 to 4 years of construction, and two additional winter seasons of gravel mining and placement needed for BT4 and BT5 and associated roads.
Gravel roads and pads would be built following construction of ice roads, with gravel conditioning and re-compaction occurring the same year. Bridges would be built during the winter from ice roads and ice pads.
On pad facilities would be constructed once gravel pads are complete, with modules for the Willow processing facility and drill sites BT1, BT2 and BT3 delivered by barge to the module transfer island during the summer and modules for drill sites BT4 and BT5 delivered in a second sealift.
Pipelines would be installed during winter from ice roads, BLM said, with the Colville River horizontal directional drilling pipeline crossing completed during the 2022 winter construction season and pipeline installation taking between 1 and 3 years per pipeline, depending on pipeline length and location.
Drilling Drilling would begin in 2023 for Alternatives B and C or 2024 for Alternative D at BT1, with the drill rig mobilized and drilling beginning prior to completion of the processing facility and drill site facilities.
There would be some 18 to 24 months of pre-drilling activities, allowing the Willow processing facility to be commissioned immediately following construction. BLM said it is assumed wells would be drilled consecutively from BT1 to BT3 to BT2, but timing and drilling would be based on economics and drill rig availability.
“A second drill rig may be used during the drilling phase,” BLM said, with drilling expected to take 10 to 11 years and be conducted year round with some 20 to 30 days of drilling per well.
Production would begin in the fourth quarter of 2024 for Alternatives B and C, BLM, with production delayed a minimum of 1 year for Alternative D and projected to begin in the first quarter of 2026.
Multistate hydraulic fracturing is planned, BLM said, similar to that done at other North Slope developments.
Alternative B BLM broke out details of ConocoPhillips’ proposed project, Alternative B, including four 14.5 acre drilling pads (BT1, BT2, BT4 and BT5) with BT3 colocated with the Willow processing facility on a 34.1 acre pad. The Willow operations center would be on a 21.6 acre pad near BT3/WPF and the airstrip.
Other gravel pads would include two water source access pads, four valve pads, two pads at the Judy Creek pipeline crossing and two pads at the Fish Creek pipeline crossing, two HDD pipeline pads at the Colville River crossing, a tie-in pad near Alpine CD4N and a pipeline crossing pad near GMT-2.
There would be single season ice pads during construction and 30 acres of multi season ice pads.
There would be a total of 31.6 miles of infield pipelines. The Willow export pipeline would be 36.5 miles. Other pipelines in the project include a 67.1 mile seawater pipeline from Kuparuk CPF2 to Alpine CD4N on new vertical support members and CD4N to the Alpine processing facility on existing VSMs.
Ice roads, ice pads Ice roads would be used during construction to support gravel placement and pipeline construction, for lake access and to access the gravel mine site. “Separate ice roads would be used for pipeline construction, gravel placement, and general traffic to address safety considerations,” BLM said.
Ice road construction typically begins in November or December, and the usable ice road season is expected to be shorter than at Kuparuk and Alpine “due to the logistical challenges of constructing a remote ice road,” BLM said. The ice road season at Willow is expected to be 90 days, Jan. 25 through April 25.
Sealift modules would be transported by ice road from the module transfer island to the project area, a combination of sea ice and over tundra ice roads, BLM said.
During drilling operations there would be seasonal ground access from Deadhorse and Kuparuk by the annually constructed Alpine resupply ice road.
BLM said single season ice pads would be used during all years of construction to house construction camps, stage construction equipment and support construction activities, as well as during construction of the gravel mine site, at bridge crossings during gravel road and pipeline construction, at the Colville River HDD crossing, onshore near the MTI and at other locations as needed.
There would also be multi season ice pads, which would be used on a limited basis, BLM said, to stage construction materials between winter construction seasons.
For multi season ice pads snow is compacted over a base layer of ice with a vapor barrier over the ice to prevent melting and foam insulation and white tarps to insulate the pads, which are then covered by rig mats.
Three 10 acre multi seasonal ice pads would be used, one near GMT-2, one near the Willow operations center and one at the Tinmiaqsiugvik mine site. The pads would allow ice road, gravel mining and other equipment to be stored onsite over the summer, supporting earlier construction starting dates the following winter.
Public meetings set The schedule of public meetings on the draft environmental impact statement for the Willow master development plan has been set:
Fairbanks — Sept. 9, 6-8 p.m., Westmark Hotel Fairbanks;
Anaktuvuk Pass — Sept. 10, 6-8 p.m., Anaktuvuk Pass Community Center;
Anchorage — Sept. 12, 6-8 p.m., Crowne Plaza Hotel-Midtown;
Utqiagvik — Sept. 18, 6-8 p.m., Iñupiat Heritage Center;
Atqasuk — Sept. 19, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Atqasuk Community Center; and
Nuiqsut — Sept. 24, 5-8 p.m., Kisik Community Center.
—Petroleum News
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