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ADEC Air Permit Program proposes to approve ORL for Mustang Pad
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Air Permit Program said April 19 that it proposes to approve an Owner Requested Limit, or ORL, for the Mustang Pad on Alaska's North Slope in the Southern Miluveach unit.
The Mustang Pad is a 17-acre gravel production pad, located off Mustang Road, a 5-mile spur road beginning at the Kuparuk River unit's DS 2M Pad.
Mustang Holding proposes to construct additional emissions units associated with a limited production facility at the Mustang Pad. Under this application, Mustang proposes to construct the following new equipment:
--Two Caterpillar G3520C fuel gas-fired generator engines rated at 2,889 brake horsepower (bhp), each.
--Mustang proposes to begin operation of this equipment on compressed natural gas until a reliable fuel gas supply is available from the producing wells on the Mustang Pad.
--One, Inlet Gas Heater rated at 3 million British thermal units per hour.
--One, Interstage Heater rated at 3 MMBtu/hr.
--One, glycol dehydration system rated at 6 million standard cubic feet per day that consists of a flash tank, electrically heated reboiler.
--One process flare rated at a maximum upset volume of 10 MMscf/day with a pilot/purge flow rate of 0.2 MMscf/day.
Wet gas analysis The emissions estimate for the glycol dehydration system was prepared using a wet gas analysis for a sample obtained from well testing in 2019 at the Mustang Pad.
This estimate was developed using the GRI-GLYCalc modeling software to evaluate the emissions resulting from various components of the system. The system is designed with an absorber contact tower with six stages, a glycol circulation flow rate of 3 gallons per minute, a flash tank with uncontrolled emissions used as a stripping gas, and a regenerator that uses an electric heating element to regenerate the glycol for use.
Ultimately, the regenerator overhead emissions are routed to the flare for further destruction with 95% emission control or better.
The existing four diesel-fired generators associated with the Mustang camp that are currently authorized under PAELQ1328PL201 will be retained under this new project scope. However, once electrical power becomes available to the source from the new Caterpillar G3520C generator engines, the camp diesel-fired generator engines will no longer provide primary electrical power to the camps.
As part of this permitting action, MHL anticipates that the department will revoke AQ1328PLOI as required by Alaska Statute (AS) 46.14.190(a) upon issuance of the new ORL requested under this application.
Recent history On Oct. 27, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas received assignment applications under 11 AAC 82.605(f) transferring complete interest in Mustang Holding LLC, or Mustang, and Mustang Operations Center 1 LLC, or MOC1, from Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, to Finnex Operating LLC for the following state of Alaska leases: ADLs 390680, 390681, 390690, 390691 and 39069.
Division of Oil and Gas Director Derek Nottingham approved change of control to Finnex on Feb. 29, with an effective date of Nov. 1, 2023.
As reported in the Jan. 7 issue of Petroleum News, the operator of the Southern Miluveach unit, Mustang Holding and its new owner Finnex are moving forward with Finnex's plan to conduct a multi-year onshore oil and gas project in the unit's Mustang field.
The Mustang Development targets the Kuparuk "C" sands, the same reservoir that is being produced in ConocoPhillips Alaska's Kuparuk River field. A maximum oil production rate is predicted to be 6,000 barrels per day, with total expected recovery approximately 25 million barrels of oil over a field life of 30 years.
The Southern Miluveach unit lies between the Kuparuk River and Colville River units on Alaska's North Slope. The Mustang field, originally developed by Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., produced for just one month, a total of 10,999 barrels in October 2019, according to Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records.
Finnex plans to return the unit to production and reconnect the Mustang pipeline.
Of four wells drilled at the Mustang Pad, Finnex said one is producible in paying quantities.
Associated facilities to support Finnex's project include wellhead facilities, on-pad and off-pad piping/manifolds, process facilities and a trucking terminal.
After the 1,150-foot Mustang pipeline is reconnected, crude oil will be pumped from storage tanks into the Alpine Transportation Co. common-carrier pipeline just southeast of Mustang Pad.
--KAY CASHMAN
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