|
ConocoPhillips applies to store rig over summer again at Puviaq Exploration program under review for consistency with Alaska Coastal Management Program; DGC says company asking for maximum time for permits Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build another insulated ice pad to store a drilling rig over the summer near either the Puviaq No. 1 or No. 2 exploration well prospects in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and has its exploration drilling program under Alaska Coastal Management Program consistency review.
Phillips Alaska (now ConocoPhillips) built an insulated ice pad last year in the same area and stored Nabors Alaska Drilling Inc. rig 16-E there over the summer. The corps said the ice pad used to store the drilling rig this past summer will not be used again in 2003.
The 1.5 acre insulated ice pad is proposed for summer 2003 rig storage will be in either section 35 township 16 north, range 10 west, Umiat Meridian (the Puviaq No. 1 location) or section 16-T15N-R10W, UM. The Puviaq locations are west of Teshekpuk Lake and south of Smith Bay approximately 67 miles southeast of Barrow, some of the farthest west tracts so far leased in the NPR-A.
The pad would be approximately 245 feet by 265 feet by six inches thick and would be covered with standard eight-foot by 24-foot by approximately four-inch to six-inch thick 25 psi expanded polystyrene foam insulation.
Panels weight approximately 700 pounds each and would be sandwiched between eight-foot by 24-foot sheets of 7/16-inch thick oriented strand board. Reinforced polyethylene film would be laid under the panels to prevent them from bonding to the ice and exposed panel surfaces would be covered with a white, opaque surface fabric designed to minimize thermal erosion of the ice pad. Standard rig mats will be placed on the insulated panels with the drilling rig sitting on the mats.
Ice berms may be constructed to divert spring runoff from the pad.
Drilling under review ConocoPhillips has applications in for an exploration drilling program in the area this winter, with as many as two wells and sidetracks to each well possible at each of the sites over the 2002-04 drilling seasons.
Nabors Alaska Drilling Inc. rig 16-E is scheduled to drill at the Puviaq No. 1 and No. 2 locations this winter, and if drilling operations are not completed this winter, the company would store the drill rig at either site for winter 2003-04 drilling.
The Division of Governmental Coordination has begun a review of the proposed drilling program. Comments are due Nov. 4.
| 