Completion of the first phase of the Pikka oil field is on schedule with production start-up expected by the end of the first quarter, with the ramp-up to a plateau of 80,000 barrels per day anticipated in the second quarter, Santos executive Joe Balash told Petroleum News on Jan. 20.
The Alaska North Slope oil field is currently in the commissioning stage.
"Everything is on the North Slope that needs to be on the Slope for start-up. We are committed to starting up safely and that means everything, every component, has to work," Balash said.
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When asked about suggestions that the field might go online earlier than forecast, he said "we did have various countdown clocks to start earlier," but accomplishing that "would have been a heroic outcome."
Balash is senior vice president of external affairs at Santos. Oil Search (Alaska) LLC, a subsidiary of Santos, is operator of the North Slope Pikka unit, or PKU.
In late August, Santos Managing Director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said the Pikka Phase 1 development was "progressing well" and that the company had brought first oil guidance forward from mid-2026 to first quarter 2026.
Unit background
The Pikka unit is comprised of both State of Alaska oil and gas leases and Arctic Slope Regional Corp. oil and gas leases.
The unit was formed June 18, 2015, when Armstrong was still involved, and was expanded for the first time in March 2018 and again on Sept. 10, 2024. The unit consists of a total of 97,385.47 acres.
On Dec. 31, 2024, the term of the Pikka unit was extended until June 1, 2030. While the unit does not yet have sustained production, the Nanushuk Participating Area, or PA, was approved by the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas on Oct. 23, 2025.
In the 2025 POD period, Oil Search committed to continuing the Phase 1 scope of Pikka unit development.
This included drilling wells and the following facilities and infrastructure work: installation of the NPF module, installation of remaining pipelines along all pipeline routes, continued work on the grind and inject and seawater treatment plant facilities, import and export pipeline work to enable oil sales, seawater import for pressure maintenance, and fuel gas import, and completion of work on the Nanushuk Operation Pad.
AOGA presentation
At an Aug. 27, 2025, presentation to the Alaska Oil and Gas Association in Anchorage, Pete Laliberte, Santos vice president of business development, said "This is our core development area, so when we sanctioned Pikka Phase I, we sanctioned it in this core development area with our partner Repsol."
Laliberte said his colleague Mark Ireland likes to say, "in this core area we have three Pikkas."
"I think that we've got the one Pikka development that we're doing right now, but we also have a unit called Horseshoe and a unit called Quokka," Laliberte said.
"In Quokka we're drilling another appraisal well this winter and in the Quokka and Horseshoe units we see the potential for two more Pikkas."
In other words, Santos has much more to come on the North Slope.
Pikka Phase 1 is going to be developed on some 17,000 acres of land, 1% of the total Santos leasehold on the Slope, Laliberte said, adding, "So we have a huge amount of running room and this is exactly what our subsurface team is looking at."
"We've also got a major discovery in Lagniappe in the eastern North Slope and that's with our partners, APA Corp. and Armstrong," he said. "And then finally we've got a big NPR (National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska) position -- probably a little bit longer term."
