Kuparuk Olfield, North Slope, Alaska

Kuparuk oilfield, the second biggest oilfield in North America, covers an area of 170,000 acres in the North Slope region of Alaska.

ConocoPhillips Alaska (COPA), the operator, holds a working interest of 55.3% in the field. The co-owners include BP Exploration (39.2%), ChevronTexaco (4.9%), and ExxonMobil (0.6%).

The Tarn, Tabasco, West Sak and Meltwater satellite fields share production facilities with Kuparuk, while the Drill Site 3S (Palm field) was developed as an extension to Kuparuk.

Remaining recoverable reserves in the Kuparuk area are expected to be six billion barrels, and the oil from the area has an average API gravity of 24 degrees.

New developments in Alaska’s North Slope region

ConocoPhillips initiated three projects in the North Slope following the enactment of the More Alaska Production Act (SB 21), an oil tax reform bill, in early 2013.

The first project is the Drill Site 2S (DS2S) project, a new development in the southwestern Kuparuk field, which was approved for funding by COPA and its partners in October 2014. The project is expected to increase the peak production capacity of the field by 8,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

Final approval for the Greater Mooses Tooth 1 (GMT1) project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is expected to be granted in early 2015, whereas final approval for the viscous oil development at Drill Site 1H North East West Sak (NEWS) in the Kuparuk unit is expected to be granted in late 2014.

The three projects will be developed with a combined investment of approximately $2bn, and they are expected to add an additional 40,000bopd to North Slope production by 2018.

Kuparuk Oilfield expansion Drill Site 2S (DS2S) project

The DS2S project involves the construction of a gravel road, a drill site, and installation of power lines, pipelines and other new surface facilities. Construction of the gravel road is in progress and installation of the facilities is scheduled to start in late 2014.

Drilling activities will start mid 2015, and first oil is expected to flow in late 2015. Approximately $500m is estimated to be invested in the project.

Field discovery and production details

Kuparuk oilfield was discovered in 1969, two years following the discovery of Prudhoe Bay, the biggest field in North America. Kuparuk is located 40 miles west of the Prudhoe Bay field.

Sinclair Oil and Sohio (now BP) discovered the field by drilling the Ugnu No 1 well. ARCO acquired the field in the same year and later handed it over to ConocoPhillips. Production from the field started in 1981 with initial estimation of 1.6 billion barrels of recoverable reserves from the field.

Production peaked at 322,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 1992. The introduction of a large-scale, enhanced oil recovery (LSEOR) project and subsequent discovery of its satellite fields enabled the cumulative production to reach two billion barrels in July 2005.

The field has produced more than 2.5 billion barrels of oil.

Infrastructure and facilities at the Kuparuk oilfield

The field features three central processing facilities (CPF), a seawater treatment plant (STP) and 47 drill sites. The second and third CPFs commenced operations in 1984 and 1987 respectively.

A number of technologies were introduced to enhance the production from the field. Some of the technologies include peripheral and infill drilling, water injection, alternating water and gas injection (IWAG), and alternating miscible gas injection (MWAG).

New drilling rigs at Kuparuk

COPA, in recent years, introduced new drilling rigs at the field to enhance its production. The CDR2-AC purpose-built coiled tubing drilling (CTD) rig was introduced at Kuparuk in May 2009.

Nabors 7ES rig was introduced in May 2013 to perform rig workovers at the field, enabling additional production of approximately 4,400bopd. The Nabors 9ES was introduced in January 2014, to drill up to ten new wells at the Tarn satellite field, enabling additional production of 2,600bopd.

COPA further contracted Doyon Drilling in July 2014, to supply a new rotary rig for the field. The new rig will be named Doyon 142.

Contractors involved

ConocoPhillips awarded the engineering and procurement services contracts in October 2014 to URS Corporation, CH2M HILL, and ASRC Energy for a number of projects the company is implementing at Kuparuk, Alpine and Cook Inlet. The contracts are valid for five years.