Study designed to help new players on Alaska’s North Slope

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News publisher & managing editor

The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas will soon be able to offer oil companies that do not own North Slope facilities a shoppers’ guide to unused capacity in North Slope hydrocarbon infrastructure, infrastructure primarily owned by the slope’s largest producers — BP Exploration (Alaska), ConocoPhillips Alaska and ExxonMobil.

According to public documents, the Facilities Cost and Sharing Study is a pilot project being conducted by Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska for the state at a cost of $50,000. The study, awarded June 26, is expected to be complete by late November and available for distribution by the end of the year.

The nine units in which infrastructure is being reviewed include Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk River, Point McIntyre, Lisburne, Endicott, Milne Point, Colville River which includes the Alpine field, Northstar, and Badami, which is in a warm shutdown.

Alaska Division of Oil and Gas officials were not ready to comment on the study Sept. 18, but the paperwork suggests the division will serve as a clearinghouse at a preliminary level to give new players a sense of the landscape on the North Slope.

The results of the study will show which facilities have unused capacity, what kind of sharing agreements are in place now, and how much access is likely to cost new players.