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Prudhoe gas treatment facility proposed
Tulsa-based SES Midstream LLC files for Corps permit to build CNG and sales quality natural gas plant near Deadhorse airport Steve Sutherlin Petroleum News
Raymond Latchem of Tulsa-based SES Midstream LLC is proposing to build a natural gas treatment facility at Prudhoe Bay on Spine Road near the Deadhorse airport to treat and process gas into commercial grade products such as compressed natural gas and sales quality natural gas “on par with industry standards for distribution though the local gas utility company.”
Latchem told Petroleum News the facility is intended to serve only the small Deadhorse market, adding that gas produced and sold there has contained over 12% CO2 since the beginning of field production in 1977.
“Over time, the engines that use the fuel gas have become more sophisticated with a greater emphasis on emissions,” he said. “The CO2 needs to be removed to the point that the gas that is sold in Deadhorse to the oilfield support contractors matches the same quality as gas sold in Anchorage and all over North America.”
The company plans to build the small gas treating facility next summer.
Construction might employ 12 to15 people over several weeks, Latchem said, adding, “long term, it will have a total of 4 operators working normal Slope rotations.”
The plant will treat between 4 million to 8 million standard cubic feet per day of gas produced from the Prudhoe Bay unit, he said.
A June 10 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public notice said the company proposes placement of 85,000 cubic yards of gravel fill into 8.6 acres of wetlands, to construct a roughly shaped 1,316 foot by 260 foot rectangular pad and access driveway.
According to attached plans, the facility will include eight buildings, ranging from 20 feet to 80 feet in height, with a combined area of 375,100 square feet.
Adjacent to Spine Road SES selected the site because it was adjacent to Spine Road and minimizes the length of an access road, while placement of fill would avoid streams and rivers, minimizing impacts to high value wetlands as much as possible while maintaining safe operations and meeting required processing needs, the notice said, adding that the connection to the gas distribution system will be made with pipe buried in the driveway connecting to the Norgasco system that is existing and buried in the Spine roadbed.
SES said there are no non-wetland alternatives to the proposed site.
The Corps said consultation with the Alaska Heritage Resources Survey indicates that there are no cultural resources in the permit area or within the vicinity of the permit area.
While the project area is within the known or historic range of the polar bear, Steller’s eider and spectacled eider, the Corps said it has determined the described activity may affect those species but would not appreciably modify the polar bear habitat.
No essential fish habitat species are known to use the project area, the Corps said.
Facility lighting for operational safety will be installed and maintained as to minimize interference with the natural patterns of local wildlife, the notice said, adding, “shades and directed lighting will be used to provide downward lighting.”
Comments must be received by June 25 at: Regulatory Division (1145) CEPOA-RD Post Office Box 6898 JBER, Alaska 99506-0898 to become part of the record and be considered in the decision.
Comments by email can be sent to the project manager, Mary Romero, at: [email protected] or to [email protected]
All comments should include the public notice reference number: POA-2020-00241.
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