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Hilcorp files for Milne S Pad expansion
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
On Feb. 20 the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas posted a 30-day public notice for Hilcorp Alaska’s proposed Milne Point S Pad expansion. The purpose of the project is to provide space for drilling 10 new development wells in the North Slope unit to increase heavy oil production from the Ugnu reservoir. Unlike the Schrader Bluff viscous oil produced from Milne, Ugnu crude is much thicker, colder and more difficult to extract.
The expansion, which would require 16,000 cubic yards of gravel, is expected to be 330 feet by 300 feet at its widest points, adding approximately 2.04 acres on the west side of S Pad.
Proposed schedule In its Jan. 29 application to the division, Hilcorp’s schedule for the project was to place gravel for the pad extension starting March 20, finishing it by May 1.
Well drilling was to begin next and be done a year later on May 1, 2021.
June1 was the proposed start date for the installation of piping, tie-ins and associated infrastructure, with completion by July 1, 2021.
Hilcorp said half the new wells would be “Jet Pump producers and half injectors as currently planned.” But as drilling continued results might “necessitate adjustments to the pumping mechanism or ratio of producers to injectors.”
Additional infrastructure, “including a traditional test separator, heaters, polymer facilities, and pump drives, may be installed on pad, but these will be permitted separately once we have the design finalized,” the company said in its application.
Past and future Hilcorp took over operatorship of the mature Milne Point oil field in November 2017 from BP Exploration (Alaska) and filed the 38th plan of development for the Milne unit with the division Oct. 15. The new plan was effective Jan. 13 and runs through Jan. 12, 2021.
Since Jan. 1, 2019 Hilcorp competed 26 new wells at Milne, including two S pad Ugnu wells.
The Milne Point field has four oil pools; starting with the shallowest, they are Ugnu, Schrader Bluff. Kuparuk River and Sag River.
The state-designated unit encompasses the Kuparuk participating area, or PA, the Schrader Bluff PA and the Sag River PA. Additionally, the unit includes tract operations C-15A, S-90, C-23, K-33, MPS-37, MPS-39, MPS-41, MPS-43, B-30, C-46 and S-203.
In its 38th plan Hilcorp said it planned to continue to evaluate potential undeveloped resources in the unit.
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