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Mustang pad expansion approved; Finnex to add 70,000 cy gravel
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
On Sept. 13, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas sent a letter to Harry Bockmeulen, chief operating officer of Mustang Holding LLC, authorizing the company to conduct activities on state lands as proposed in the North Slope Southern Miluveach Unit Plan of Operations amendment application dated July 8.
(See map in the online issue PDF)
Basically, Mustang Holding, a Finnex Operating company, was requesting authorization to place 70,000 cubic yards of gravel on tundra adjacent to the Mustang Pad located in the Southern Miluveach Unit, or SMU.
The expansion will be on the southeast corner of the pad near the entrance and will measure 945 feet by 225 feet, approximately 5 acres.
The Mustang Mine Site, located 0.5 miles northwest of the Mustang Pad, will be the source of gravel and fill material for the project.
Material from Mustang Mine site was used to originally construct Mustang Pad, which has experienced some settling and erosion. To address these concerns Mustang Holding plans to utilize methods for gravel placement that were not used during the initial construction of the pad.
First, the gravel will be mined and screened to remove excessive fines. A geotextile will then be set on the tundra, and gravel will be placed on top of the geotextile in one-foot lifts until design grade elevation is reached. This will occur before winter, so the material can be appropriately compacted. A surcharge of one foot will be placed atop of the design grade, and left until the following season, when the pad will be graded to design elevation.
The purpose of the project is to provide space for the placement of camps at an appropriate distance from current and planned well sites.
The project was scheduled to begin Sept. 1, 2024.
Mustang Pad is approximately 16 miles east of Nuiqsut.
Agency review & public notice The Division provided a review and comment opportunity for the activities considered for the authorization under this decision. The following government entities were notified on July 11, for comment on the plan: US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Mining, Land and Water (DMLW), and the North Slope Borough (NSB).The comment deadline was 4:30 pm Alaska time on July 25.
No comments were received.
Public notice of the proposed activities and opportunity to comment was posted on the Division's website and the Alaska Online Public Notice System on July 26, with a deadline for comments of Aug. 26 at 4:30 pm Alaska time.
Faxes of the public notice were sent to the Deadhorse and Utqiagvik post offices, and a copy of the public notice was emailed to the City of Nuiqsut to be posted on the community bulletin board.
Additionally, copies of the notice were published in the Anchorage Daily News on July 28, and Aug. 8, and in the Arctic Sounder Aug. 1 and 8.
No comments were received.
Conditions/Stipulations A certified As-Built Survey of the activity must be provided within one year of placement of the improvement. This As-Built must contain a hard copy, as well as a digital GIS file containing a shapefile or ESRI Feature Class.
This amendment approval must be attached with the original decision.
This unit operations amendment approval was issued in accordance with Alaska Statute 38.05, Alaska Administrative Codes
11 AAC 83.346 and 11 AAC 83.303.
The Division reviewed this amendment under the unit regulation for the plan, 11 AAC 83.346, and considered the factors set forth in 11 AAC 83.303(a) and (b).
The amendment was also evaluated against the SMU agreement for conformance.
This approval signifies only that the State of Alaska has no objection to the operations outlined in the plan amendment application. It does not constitute certification of any property right or land status claimed by the applicant nor does it relieve the applicant of responsibility to obtain approvals or permits from other persons or governmental agencies that may also be required.
All stipulations contained in the original lease and subsequent plan approvals remain in full force and effect.
If activities have not commenced, this approval expires on Sept. 13, 2027.
Failure to comply with the terms and conditions outlined in the lease, the attached stipulations, and this authorization may result in revocation of this unit operations approval.
Any questions or concerns about this amendment may be directed to Natural Resource Specialist Hayley Beitel at (907)269-8570 or emailed to [email protected]
--KAY CASHMAN
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