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BP to develop Schrader Bluff at Milne Point with only one new pad 1997 plan called for seven new pads; 2001 plan based on horizontal multi-lateral wells, jet pumps, smaller electrified rig Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. will begin construction this summer of a new production pad at Milne Point for Schrader Bluff development.
In 1997, BP proposed a Schrader Bluff development at Milne Point — but that plan called for seven new pads, 75 miles of new pipeline and 300 wells.
“Due to its scope, the 1997 project proved to be uneconomic,” BP told the state in permit applications submitted in February.
The 2001 plan calls for one new production pad (S pad, in the southern portion of the Milne Point unit), a 0.7-mile access road, a 4.4-mile water injection pipeline from the central facilities pad at Milne to S pad; a 3.3-mile oil production pipeline from S pad to the K pad oil production pipeline, power and fiber optic cables and ice roads to develop reserves.
An additional set of vertical support members will be required because the existing common carrier pipeline VSMs along Milne Point road could not physically fit all proposed S pad pipelines.
BP said it estimates Schrader Bluff reserves at Milne Point, between the Kuparuk River unit and the Prudhoe Bay unit, at 200-300 million barrels. As many as 100 wells will be drilled from existing Milne Point pads and as many as 50 wells from the new S pad.
Construction will begin Aug. 1 with gravel mining. Pad, water and oil pipeline construction will be complete by July 1, 2002.
BP said the plan had changed since the company presented it to agencies earlier this year. A gas pipeline has been added which “will allow the miscible water-alternating gas process to be used with Schrader Bluff oil production, thereby reducing gas breakthrough and improving oil recovery efficiency.” The process technology is being added to the Milne Point unit with the Kuparuk reservoir enhanced oil recovery project. The 4.4-mile gas injection pipeline from the central facilities pad to S pad will be built in the winter of 2004-2005.
New technology since 1997 Other changes from the 1997 plan include a smaller electrified rig, horizontal well completion design with multi-laterals and water injection wells with slim hole design.
BP said the horizontal well design increases effective drilling radius in the Schrader Bluff shallow reservoir and provides higher per-well productivity and reserves, reducing the number of well pads required to develop the reservoir from seven to one and reducing the number of wells required from 300 to 150.
Jet pumps will be used in the wells instead of electrical submersible pumps, BP said. Electrical submersibles have only a two to three year run life and pump and well workovers cause high field operating costs.
The jet pumps are reliable, have no moving parts, are inexpensive, easy to replace and tolerant of sand production.
Three jet pumps have already been installed at Milne Point pads and BP said they have operated effectively.
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