BP applies to expand Q Pad at Prudhoe Bay

Petroleum News

BP Exploration (Alaska) has applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, to expand Q Pad in the Western Operating Area at Prudhoe Bay.

BP said in an amendment application to its unit plan of operations that the expansion would provide access for safe maneuvering of larger drilling rigs to access existing wells on the pad and is necessary to maintain on-going oil and gas production.

Gravel fill would be used to expand the pad and BP said that the expansion would result in a minor deviation in the pad’s original configuration, affecting approximately half an acre.

The division is taking comments through April 21.

In other actions the division has approved a proposal by Hilcorp Alaska to add storage at the Central Facilities Pad at the Milne Point unit. Four stacked connexes with an insulated interior wall and roof will add room for storage. Work is anticipated between April and November.

The division has also authorized BP to decommission a drainage ditch at the former Tuboscope site at the Prudhoe Bay Base Operations Center. The drainage ditch, an area of about a third of an acre, will be backfilled after it is dewatered.

- Petroleum News