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Hilcorp plans L pad expansion at Prudhoe
Would allow for 15 additional wells on west side of pad, including well houses and infrastructure; work to begin this January Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Prudhoe Bay unit operator Hilcorp North Slope has applied to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas for a unit plan of operations amendment to expand L Pad at Prudhoe by 3.7 acres to accommodate 15 new wells.
The expansion is on the west side of the pad.
Public comment on the proposal closes at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 10.
In its Dec. 22 application the company said the L Pad expansion would accommodate the new wells and associated infrastructure. The expansion would be some 530 by 300 feet and use some 35,000 cubic yards of gravel. The project includes relocation of a divert skid manifold from Z Pad to L Pad and installation of required support pilings, installation of a new 16 foot by 18 foot module to house control panels, installation of a refrigeration unit to support hybrid thermosyphons at divert skid vertical support members and wellhouses and installation of tie-in piping and electrical cabling from the new wells to existing infrastructure.
Hilcorp said project activities are scheduled to begin in January with gravel pad construction.
Increased production “The purpose of this project is to accommodate new wells for increased production and oil retrieval at L Pad,” Hilcorp said.
The company said it will have maximized use of existing wells slots by the end of 2021 and “in order to drill more wells, an extension of the divert manifold system is required.” That system enables routing of producing wells between the test separator and the main production line.
There is an under-utilized divert skid, 506D, which will be relocated from Z Pad to support the new wells.
The 15 new wells will be a combination of producers and injectors.
Hilcorp said pad expansion is necessary to allow the drilling rig to access the target areas and to provide additional surface area for service and emergency vehicle access.
Hilcorp said the project is scheduled to begin in January with gravel pad construction and be completed by February 2023. No fill will be placed during the summer season, June through July 15, to avoid disturbance of nesting birds and to mitigate tundra impacts.
Current production In November, the most recent month for which production data is available from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, L Pad was producing from three pools: Schrader Bluff Orion, Borealis and Prudhoe. The majority of the pad’s production, 73%, was from Schrader Bluff, with 25% from Borealis and 2% from Prudhoe.
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