Exxon seeks Pt. Thomson spill plan renewal

ExxonMobil is applying for renewal of an oil spill cleanup plan for the Point Thomson oil field now under construction on Alaska’s North Slope.

The plan formally is known as an Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan, or C-plan for short.

An Oct. 3 public notice from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said the proposed C-plan concerns ExxonMobil’s ability to “contain, control and clean up an oil discharge” from oil storage tanks and a well blowout from the Brookian formation during winter drilling.

The “response planning standard” for oil storage tanks is 4,302 barrels, and 5,700 barrels of oil per day for a blowout, the notice said.

It added that ExxonMobil’s strategy for addressing a condensate blowout is “voluntary ignition.”

The C-plan renewal application is evidence of continued progress toward production from Point Thomson, located on coastal state acreage some 60 miles east of Prudhoe Bay. State officials have waited decades for ExxonMobil and its partners to develop the field, which was discovered in the 1970s.

ExxonMobil plans to begin production in early 2016 of 10,000 barrels per day of natural gas condensate, a form of light oil.

Partners in Point Thomson include BP and ConocoPhillips.

The DEC is taking public comment until Nov. 4 on ExxonMobil’s C-plan application.

—Wesley Loy