Oil production starts from Kuparuk drill site in Alaska
Oct. 13, 2015
ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. has started oil production from its Kuparuk drill site on Alaska’s North Slope (ANS). Known as Kuparuk Drill Site 2S, or DS2S, the project is expected to add 8,000 bo/d gross at peak production.
The project includes 14 development wells, a gravel road, a drilling pad capable of handling 24 wells, power lines, pipelines, and other surface facilities. The drill site is in the southwestern section of Kuparuk field.
Drilling continues on the fourth 2S well. In addition to DS2S, the company has added two drilling rigs at Kuparuk since 2013, and two more newbuild rigs are on order for delivery in 2016. Work also is concluding on Alpine drill site CD5.
The project was approved for funding in October 2014 (OGJ Online, Oct. 27, 2014); and production was originally expected in December. DS2S is the first new drill site at Kuparuk in more than 12 years.
ConocoPhillips also plans to pursue viscous oil development 1H NEWS (North East West Sak) at Kuparuk, and has received permits for the Greater Mooses Tooth No. 1 (GMT1) development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (OGJ Online, Feb. 16, 2015). A funding decision for GMT1 is expected later this year.
The company says DS2S; CD-5 (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2015); GMT1; increased rig count; and NEWS have an estimated cost of about $3 billion gross and could add 40-50,000 bo/d gross to ANS production by 2018.
Other Kuparuk owners include BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., ExxonMobil Corp., and Chevron Corp.
