Maureen Lorenzetti
Washington Editor
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 1 -- A ConocoPhillips plan to expand its western North Slope Alpine field moved forward following a decision Tuesday by the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management.
ConocoPhillips wants to develop five satellite oil reservoirs in the northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and in the Colville River Delta.
BLM's final environmental impact statement added more environmental protections than ConocoPhillips initially proposed in deference to other stakeholders, including local residents and environmentalists.
BLM said the final EIS includes the "agency-preferred alternative," which modified the company's original proposal in several areas. BLM, for example, wanted the company to relocate portions of proposed gravel access roads and pipelines outside a 3 mile setback for Fish Creek.
It also wanted pipelines raised an additional 2 ft (to 7 ft high) to assist migrating caribou. Other changes to the ConocoPhillips plan involved lengthening the bridge across a channel of the Colville River, moving electric power lines from separate poles to cable trays mounted on the pipeline supports, and adding environmental enhancements to the access road to pad CD-4.
Company reaction
The company said that it was pleased that the permit process was moving forward but stressed that the project still faces several other approvals and commercial considerations.
"The Final EIS is the initial step in development of these five satellites; we'll be reviewing the document to understand what stipulations are included in the EIS. A final decision to move forward on these projects won't be sanctioned until after the record of decision is issued and the outcome of remaining permits are known," ConocoPhillips said.
According to the company, the Alpine expansion would generate 3.7 million man-hr of work and peak at 550 construction jobs. The project also would generate more than $600 million for the state and federal governments.
The push to win government approval for the Alpine expansion is part of a larger strategy by the company to expand its portfolio into the largely unexplored NPR-A region.
Of the more than 1.4 million net exploration acres ConocoPhillips holds in the North Slope and Beaufort Sea areas of Alaska, about 753,000 net acres lie within the NPR-A, one of North America's highest potential areas.
The area was reopened to exploration in 1999 and ConocoPhillips announced the first discoveries there in 2001. BLM officials noted that the Alpine expansion could be an important new domestic production source.
BLM said that the company's development "represents an important expansion of the estimated 429 million bbl Alpine field, one of the largest discoveries in the US in decades. By 2006, initial production of over 330 million bbl if additional oil is expected," BLM said.
"This amount of oil will produce 6.5 billion gal of gasoline and 3.1 billion gal of diesel or heating fuel. This equates to at least a year's supply of gas for 15 million private vehicles and of heating fuel for more than half the homes in the northeastern US," BLM noted.
Current, future Alaska plans
The company's existing Alpine field averages a net production of 64,500 b/d; Anadarko Petroleum Corp. holds a 22% in Alpine and its satellites. The existing field is expected to have a gross capacity of 140,000 b/d by 2005 after various facility improvements are made.
Fiord, a satellite accumulation about 5 miles north of Alpine, was discovered in 1999. Nanuq was discovered in 2001, 6 miles south of Alpine. ConocoPhillips said that development plans are under way for both of these accumulations and production could begin as early as 2006.
The company also drilled five exploratory wells this year, two on a prospect near Kuparuk, and three in the NPR-A area near previously announced discoveries. Drilling results are still under evaluation, according to the company web site.
Contact Maureen Lorenzetti at [email protected].