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Major materials on order for Pt. Thomson ExxonMobil says that subject to EIS completion it will be laying gravel for Point Thomson initial production system this winter Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Subject to completion of the environmental impact statement and a record of decision from the Corps of Engineers, ExxonMobil will begin infrastructure work at Point Thomson this winter.
Lee Bruce, ExxonMobil’s senior project manager for Point Thomson, told the Senate Judiciary Committee June 12 that all major facilities equipment is on order for the initial production system, the IPS, and he said some of those materials, for vertical support members for pipelines, were arriving in Seward the evening of the hearing.
Equipment comes in by ice road and barge, Bruce said, while personnel travel to the remote site by helicopter.
He said that from a project standpoint they’re dealing with a “very remote ... hostile environment ... (with) very limited access.”
There are old pads at Point Thomson, and the main pad was substantially rebuilt earlier for the drilling of two wells, but there is no infrastructure linking Point Thomson to existing central North Slope facilities in the Deadhorse area.
Limited access Barges have a window of about 90 days from the middle of July to the latter part of September, he said, with barging shut down for two to three weeks around Labor Day for whaling.
He said the ice road from existing central North Slope infrastructure can be up running by the end of January, early February, but by the end of April or the first week of May the ice road season ends, allowing about three months to move large pieces of equipment out by ice road.
Judiciary Chair Hollis French, D-Anchorage, asked whether the planned IPS facilities could be expanded.
Bruce said the facilities are designed to handle 200 million cubic feet of gas per day and produce 10,000 barrels per day of condensate. The gas will be re-injected once the condensate is removed and the liquids will be shipped down a new pipeline to be built to the liquids line which runs from Badami to central North Slope facilities.
Bruce said the IPS will provide an understanding of the resource, the connectivity of the wells, the reservoir and what it takes to work in such a remote environment.
The schedule Bruce said the rig used for the first two wells came out to Point Thomson by ice road but was demobilized after drilling was completed.
The rig comes back out to Point Thomson again in 2014-15 to drill a disposal well and to complete the first two wells for production; it will then move to the west pad and will be in the final stages of drilling the west pad well when the facilities start up, he said. The settlement agreement requires drilling the west pad well by the winter season of 2016, but Bruce said it makes more sense to drill it as soon as the rig is available.
Startup is scheduled for the winter season of 2015-16, but no later than May 1, Bruce said.
The schedule in the plan ExxonMobil filed with the Division of Oil and Gas (see story in May 27 issue) shows infrastructure construction starting in 2013, with both infrastructure and gathering lines completed in mid-2015. Main sealift and module installation happens in 2015 and early 2016.
The IPS is part of the Point Thomson settlement agreement reached between the State of Alaska and the Point Thomson working interest owners earlier this year, which requires an initial production system for 10,000 barrels per day as the first phase of development. The IPS would be followed by either an expanded gas cycling project, a major gas sale or shipment of gas to Prudhoe Bay for re-injection there and ultimate sale of the gas.
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