Innovation of the North Slope: new technology helps boost crude oil production.

• Author: Jones, Patricia

Whether it's working in the harsh Arctic environment or finding new ways to extract marketable products from complex underground structures, North Slope oil producers face numerous challenges.

Evolving technology has changed and improved development throughout the history of the oil and gas industry on Alaska's North Slope. Many of the changes have come about due to adaptations or improvement designs made by those facing North Slope development challenges.

"When you have a technology step change, it's either something brand new that's never been invented or it's something applied," said Steve Brass, Phillips Alaska Inc.'s satellite development supervisor in the Greater Kuparuk area. "The vast majority of technology innovations that we're doing is going to get the widget that somebody else has used, and we're bringing it to the Slope for the first time."

Those kinds of technological advancements have helped producers boost crude oil production at Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk. In addition, a number of satellite fields have been developed, thanks to new drilling technologies, different types of construction techniques and continued application of enhanced oil recovery technologies.

During an energy workshop presentation held in early April in Fairbanks, Dr. Charles Thomas, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy, described how technology helped to increase production from Prudhoe Bay, originally estimated to contain nine billion barrels of recoverable crude.

"By 1986, this had already increased to 10.2 billion barrels, with the introduction of these technologies of recovery," he said. "In 2000, it was up to around 13 billion barrels and now we're looking at something over 14 billion.

"What brought about this? Technology development was one thing, and then the intelligent implementation of this technology, of enhanced oil recovery, was another," he added.

New technology and research efforts are now focused in two major areas on the North Slope--development of heavy or viscous oil, and development of conventional and unconventional gas resources.

Alaska's harsh Arctic environment contains vast supplies of these energy sources. Estimates for recoverable heavy oil ranges up to eight billion barrels, plenty of oil to supply existing infrastructure for many years.

Known conventional natural gas reserves are believed to contain about 35 trillion cubic feet, and government estimates put a possible Slope-wide supply at more than 100 trillion cubic feet.

While producers and researchers know of vast supplies of unconventional gas resources, such as gas hydrates and coalbed methane, an accurate accounting of those potential energy sources has yet to be made.

Finding the appropriate technological key to unlock these supplies is the next...