Division approves new Kuparuk pipelines

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas has approved an amendment to the Kuparuk River unit plan of operations submitted by unit operator ConocoPhillips Alaska.

The amendment is for the installation of two new pipelines, a 10-inch water injection pipeline and a 20-inch produced oil pipeline running some 10.8 miles from KRU Drill Site 3S to KRU Drill Site 2X. The lines will start at DS-3S and will tie into existing pad infrastructure on that pad.

The approval, dated Feb. 19, said the project is scheduled to begin Nov. 1.

From DS-3S the pipelines will run southeast on a new pipe rack which will have room for an additional future pipeline to Drill Site 2U. At DS-2U the oil pipeline will tie into existing infrastructure.

The new pipe rack will carry the water injection line -- with room for an additional future line -- through the Drill Site 2W road crossing to DS-2X where the line will tie into existing infrastructure.

A gravel expansion of 0.01 acres will be required at the DS-2W road crossing to accommodate the new line and new guard rails, with gravel sourced from Mine Site C or Mine Site E at Kuparuk.

In its application ConocoPhillips said increased production in the Greater Kuparuk area "is exceeding the processing capacity at Central Processing Facility 3," with ongoing development at DS-3S and DS-3T expected to "result in a significant increase of produced oil," making the new pipelines necessary so additional oil can be routed to Central Processing Facility 2 which has capacity to handle additional oil.

This work is in the area where ConocoPhillips recently expanded the Kuparuk River unit and formed the Coyote participating area, approved in October, which will be drilled from DS-3S and DS-3T, with 30 to 40 additional wells planned, half producers and half injectors.

The Torok PA was also approved in October with up to eight wells in the Torok PA part of the 2024-25 Kuparuk River plan of development.

--KRISTEN NELSON