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State regulators OK pipeline connection ExxonMobil, BP get clearance to join Point Thomson line, now under construction, with existing North Slope pipeline network By Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has granted a permit for connection of the Point Thomson pipeline, now under construction, with the rest of the North Slope oil pipeline network.
The action comes at the joint request of ExxonMobil, which is building the Point Thomson line, and BP as operator of the nearest existing line.
Alaska statutes require commission approval for connections of any oil or gas pipelines.
Oil transportation web Point Thomson is a rich oil and gas field ExxonMobil and its partners are developing on the eastern North Slope, next to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ExxonMobil will operate the field and counts BP and ConocoPhillips as its major partners.
The Point Thomson Export Pipeline, as it’s called, will be a vital component of the field’s long-awaited development.
Construction began last winter on the 22-mile line, which will carry Point Thomson petroleum liquids west to the BP-operated Badami pipeline.
Badami, for the time being, is the Slope’s easternmost producing field. BP developed and operated Badami originally, but now Savant is the operator.
The Badami pipeline continues west to the BP-operated Endicott pipeline.
Ultimately, all North Slope oil funnels into the trans-Alaska oil pipeline at Prudhoe Bay.
The regulatory commission, in a seven-page order dated Aug. 16, granted a permit for construction of an interconnection of the Point Thomson and Badami pipelines.
The commission also approved a connection agreement between PTE Pipeline LLC, in which ExxonMobil is the majority owner, and BP Transportation (Alaska) Inc.
VSMs already installed In November 2012, the commission granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity, as well as a construction permit, for the Point Thomson line.
The line will run generally parallel to the Beaufort Sea coastline. Like many North Slope pipelines, the Point Thomson line will be insulated and above ground, mounted on brackets known as vertical support members, or VSMs.
Workers during the last winter construction season installed about 2,200 VSMs along the pipeline route. Laying of actual pipe is yet to come.
The 12-inch line will feature a design capacity of 70,000 barrels per day, well above the 10,000 barrels per day of natural gas condensate ExxonMobil aims to produce initially beginning in the winter of 2015-16.
The surplus capacity will accommodate fuller Point Thomson development, and maybe production from other eastern North Slope developments.
The budget for the pipeline is $253 million, ExxonMobil has said.
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