CIPL requests extra time to remove gravel

Cook Inlet Pipe Line Co. has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an extension of time to remove a 1.2-acre temporary fill pad installed last year in a project to replace a section of a buried 20-inch pipeline using horizontal directional drilling. The project is some three miles west of the Trading Bay Production Facility on the west side of Cook Inlet.

The Corps said CIPL, owned by Harvest Alaska LLC, proposes to modify an existing permit to allow for six additional months to complete removal and reclamation of the 1.2-acre temporary fill pad.

The gravel pad was constructed of geotextile material and gravel, with reclamation of the gravel pad site scheduled for March; the company now proposes to complete reclamation by the end of September.

The Corps said that due to warm temperatures, the access road to the pad has become unstable and would not support equipment needed to remove the pad. CIPL has told the Corps it expects the access road to dry out sufficiently by June or July.

CIPL is owned by Harvest Alaska, a subsidiary of Hilcorp Alaska.

The gravel and geotextile material will be removed and the 8,000 cubic yards of pit run gravel returned to an existing material site owned by Hilcorp.

- Petroleum News