Eni Petroleum says its new Nikaitchuq offshore field on the North Slope will begin producing oil in December, with pipeline construction underway now and drilling set to resume this spring.
The field is expected to produce 28,000 barrels per day at its peak, with oil processed in an onshore facility near Oliktok Point that will be capable of handling nearly 40,000 barrels a day, said Larry Burgess, health, safety and environmental manager with Eni.
Drilling of the onshore wells was put on hold Feb. 12, 2009, due to financial and scheduling issues, but is set to resume in June, Burgess said.
Burgess could not provide an API gravity rating for the oil, but he said it would be heavy, or viscous, oil containing sand and water.
The company and its contractors will drill just over 20 wells onshore and about 30 offshore. The wells will reach a vertical depth of 4,000 feet, Burgess said.
Offshore drilling will begin September 2011, and those wells should begin producing oil December 2011.
A 14-mile pipeline is expected to be built to carry the oil to the onshore processing plant and ultimately into a nearby Kuparuk field pipeline. Construction of the new pipeline began Jan. 4 and is slated to be completed in June, he said. A series of ice roads will run parallel to the ConocoPhillips pipeline.
Burgess estimates that 230 people are employed to work on the pipeline.
Different facets of the pipeline's construction are being handled by different Alaska-based contractors, including Nanuq Inc., CH2M Hill, ASRC Energy, Alaska Interstate Construction and Price-Gregory, among others.
The offshore oil wells will be located on a manmade island 3.8 miles off the coast.
The two processing modules that will be used to process the crude oil are being constructed in Anchorage, and will be transported by sealift to the location this summer.
The modules are being fabricated by local contractors ASRC Energy, CH2M Hill, Udelhoven, SteelFab Inc. and Marsh Creek LLC.
These facilities will utilize a "three-phase" process that involves separating the oil from the water and gas, and then shipping it on to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
The company currently employs 300 people at the site, with 40 people working in Eni's Anchorage office.
Eni ranges between the fifth- and sixth-largest oil company in the world, Burgess said. Eni has a presence in 90 countries, Burgess said, and employs 80,000 people around the world.
The Nikaitchuq field has an expected lifetime of 40 years.
Sean Manget can be reached at sean.manget.@alaskajournal.com.
