Nina M. Rach
Drilling Editor
HOUSTON, May 3 -- Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska Inc. is preparing to install the Nabors Industries Ltd. 19E rig on a 6-acre gravel island it has built in 4½ ft of water as part of the Oooguruk development project in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska.
Oooguruk development, expected to cost $500 million, has become the parent company's single largest project worldwide, according to Joey Hall, operations manager of the Alaskan unit.
Oooguruk has 50-90 million boe of reserves, from which Pioneer expects peak production of 15,000-20,000 bo/d, Hall said during a project update at an Offshore Technology Conference press conference.
The Oooguruk gravel island is about 6 miles off the coast, near the Colville River delta. After modification and installation this summer, the Nabors rig will drill 60-80 wells as deep as 6,000 ft on 7½-ft centers over 3 years. Pioneer is targeting two tight reservoirs from undulating wells with electric submersible pump completions.
Oil and gas will flow to shore in a three-phase, pipe-in-pipe subsea flowline being designed by Intec Engineering, Houston. The design will allow for leak detection and containment. Production will be processed at existing facilities owned by ConocoPhillips.
Glenn Lanan of Intec noted that the only subsea arctic pipeline now in use is at BP PLC's Northstar development, installed in 2000 in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska on an island BP built in 1982. Northstar production began in 2001.
Lanan said challenges facing offshore arctic projects worldwide include short construction and installation seasons, which are limited by sea ice movement and open water access, and the sensitive thermal environment of the permafrost, which subsides when melted and buckles when frozen.
Subsea installations also are subject to strudel-scour in shallow water and ice-gouging in deeper water.
An extra arctic challenge in the US, Lanan said, is the Jones Act, which precludes use of non-US-flag vessels between US ports. He said there are no US-flag vessels capable of operating in ice-infested environments.
