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KRU mobile grind & inject unit proposed; would move with rig
Kristen Nelson
ConocoPhillips Alaska, the Kuparuk River unit operator, has applied to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to modify an existing solid waste disposal permit to include a mobile grind and inject unit that would follow a drill rig and operate throughout Kuparuk.
The company's existing permit is for a permanent grind and inject unit, a hammer mill, in an enclosed module on the Drill Site 1B pad at Kuparuk. The existing facility recirculates drill cuttings through processing pits and equipment before the waste is pumped through a pipeline into a Class II underground injection control disposal well permitted by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, ConocoPhillips said in its April 22 application to amend its existing permit.
The amendment application is for a mobile ball mill which would grind drilling waste at the drilling rig prior to the drilling waste being transported on vac trucks to DS-1B for injection into a Class II disposal well. ConocoPhillips said the mobile G&I unit would initially operate at DS-1H but would follow the drilling rig and operate throughout Kuparuk as needed.
The current hammer mill handles up to 531,075 cubic yards annually, "including drilling mud and cuttings, solids, and liquids from production," with actual quantities based on work conducted during a year. The mobile G&I unit would handle up to 25,000 cubic yards annually and would be "used to mechanically grind drill cuttings at the drill rig before they are trucked to a disposal site," the company said.
Grind and inject In describing the purpose of the treatment, ConocoPhillips said: "The hammer mill grinds the drill cuttings into a fine clay-like material so that it can be efficiently pumped through a pipeline into an AOGCC permitted Class II UIC Disposal Well without the material getting stuck and clogging the apparatus."
"When necessary, a mobile ball mill will be used at the drilling rig to reduce cuttings particle size when they are being pumped away from the drill rig to the temporary 150-bbl storage tank where they will be pumped into vac trucks to be hauled to a Class II disposal well at DS-1B or another offsite facility."
The hammer mill on DS-1B is in a fully enclosed module, the company said, and the mobile G&I unit "is also contained with a module with its own secondary containment."
"The Mobile G&I Unit will be used when the drill rig is operational and there is a need to grind cuttings into smaller pieces to avoid clogging the pump and line used to move cuttings away from the drill rig and towards the vac trucks which will haul it away," ConocoPhillips said.
--KRISTEN NELSON
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