After decades of failed attempts, oil production begins at Point Thomson
adn.com
Alex DeMarban - April 22, 2016
Oil production has begun at ExxonMobil’s Point Thomson field near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a complex project that became a reality after decades of failed attempts by the company and court fights with the state. ExxonMobil announced the news on Friday.
Production at Point Thomson is considered critical to the state’s long-sought effort to build an 800-mile pipeline that can deliver the North Slope's natural gas to ports where it can be shipped to buyers overseas, because the field contains much of the gas to support the project.
So far, a trickle of oil is flowing. About 5,000 barrels daily of condensate -- the light oil that's similar to kerosene or diesel -- is being dripped from 100 million cubic feet of natural gas. That amount of gas – almost half the gas used in Southcentral Alaska on an average day -- will be extracted daily, then pumped back into the ground after the light oil has been extracted.
The light oil is piped to the trans-Alaska pipeline, mixing with the crude oil and increasing production levels that recently have been around 540,000 barrels of oil daily.
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Depending on what ExxonMobil learns from the project's first phase, it’s possible condensate production at the field could be increased, to as much as 70,000 barrels of condensate daily, according to the agreement.
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