BRPC permitting gravel mine for Mustang

Mine would support gravel roads and pads in preparation for late 2013 facilities construction and early 2014 drilling operations

Eric Lidji

For Petroleum News

The early stages of the Mustang development are under way.

The operator, Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., is permitting a five-year gravel sale near the proposed oil field in the central North Slope, southwest of the Kuparuk River unit.

The proposed 42-acre Miluveach K210 mine site would be approximately 1,500 feet east of the Miluveach River, and would allow Brooks Range Petroleum to produce up to 766,000 cubic yards of pit run gravel to use for early infrastructure development.

The state plans to sell the gravel at the going rate of $3 per cubic yard.

Through a partnership with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, Brooks Range Petroleum is building a winter ice road, the gravel mine, a 19.3-acre gravel production pad, a 0.7-mile access road from the mine to the pad and a 4.4-mile open access road from the pad to the existing road system at the nearby Kuparuk River unit.

The Mustang development is within the Southern Miluveach unit.

The state Division of Mining, Land and Water is taking comments through Feb. 8.

Brooks Range Petroleum plans to develop the mine early this year in preparation for gravel conditioning this summer and surface facility work at the end of the year.

With the early infrastructure complete, Brooks Range Petroleum envisions Mustang being a standalone oil field, connecting to certain Kuparuk and Alpine facilities.

The development would include a three-phase central processing facility; two tank farms to store crude oil, diesel and methanol; a six-inch sales oil pipeline connecting to the Alpine Pipeline; a six-inch water pipeline connecting to the Alpine source water pipeline; plus a temporary 150-bed construction camp and a permanent 120-bed drilling camp.

Brooks Range Petroleum plans to initially drill 12 production wells and 11 injection wells, but will build the pad with the capacity for as many as 38 wells, 15 feet apart.

In addition to the gravel mine, Brooks Range Petroleum is currently permitting two other longer lead time requirements: a wetlands permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and an air permit from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

According to its current schedule, Brooks Range Petroleum intends to build infrastructure between the end of 2013 and the middle of 2014, with drilling beginning in early 2014.

In December 2012, ConocoPhillips issued a letter saying it did not object to winter activities Brooks Range Petroleum planned to conduct on Kuparuk River unit facilities.