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Hilcorp planning Milne Point pad expansion
ERIC LIDJI For Petroleum News
Hilcorp Alaska LLC wants to increase the size of a drilling pad at the Milne Point unit to accommodate infrastructure for a grind and inject facility at the North Slope oil field.
The expansion would add 5.3 acres to the Milne Point B Pad to allow for “additional offloading facilities, transport truck lanes and support facilities” for the existing grind and inject facility. The company said that the expansion on the north side of the drilling pad would allow it to minimize risks when it is conducting simultaneous operations.
The project would begin over the coming summer, with gravel placement starting in May, construction beginning in August and the various aspects of the project wrapping up between Oct. 31, 2016, and Oct. 31, 2017, according to the company. The entire project should be completed by September 2018, according to the company.
The construction side of the project will include “five offload storage pits, transport truck lanes, equipment turnaround areas and support facilities,” according to the company.
Maintaining G&I rate The additional infrastructure will allow the Milne Point Unit Grind and Inject Facility to maintain its processing rate as drilling activities increase at the unit and prevent the company from having to truck drilling fluids and drilling solids to the nearby Prudhoe Bay Drill Site 4 Grind and Inject Facility, according to the company. “During peak seasons of winter drilling, the trucks can be offloaded into the temporary lined storage pits to avoid long wait times for transport vehicles,” the company wrote in a February 2016 application. “This will also ensure continuity of drilling operations, reserve and offload capacity when the MPU G&I is down for maintenance or non-operational.”
Hilcorp proposed the grind and inject facility in an amended plan of development for the Milne Point unit in March 2015 and began permitting in July 2016. The proposal called for a facility capable of handling approximately 40,000 cubic yards of materials each year. The company has also proposed reviving a similar facility at the Northstar unit.
The state is taking comments through May 23.
Hilcorp acquired the Milne Point unit through its acquisition of several BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. properties in 2014 and has since been expanding operations at the field. The company completed at least five production and injection wells at the unit in 2015 and 2016 to date, according to Alaska Oil and Gas Conversation Commission records.
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