Point Thomson: closing in on production.

AuthorHarrington, Susan
PositionSPECIAL SECTION: Oil & Gas

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We have all wanted to hear more about ExxonMobil's Point Thomson Unit for months. Unfortunately, the company is so busy getting the project ready they haven't been able to take the time to talk to us about it. Instead, they asked for some questions, which we sent, and they sent us back some answers.

We hope this will keep readers satisfied for the time being on the $4-billion dollar project that's employed more than 1,500 Alaskans through more than 100 different contractors. Point Thomson condensates are the next best thing to putting oil in the pipeline and the project sets up the starting gate for putting product in an LNG pipeline at some point in time, which as you'll find out from the Q&A, there is no rush for that.

Q&A with Gina Dickerson, ExxonMobil Point Thomson Senior Project Manager

Q Point Thomson is an extremely tough field to develop, would you be willing to talk about what's been encountered so far and how you have dealt with the high pressure?

A The Point Thomson field requires high pressure gas compression to overcome the reservoir pressure and re-inject produced gas for future recovery. Additionally, the processing facilities, pipelines, and drilling components had to be designed with corrosion-resistant materials to account for certain chemical compounds contained in the production stream. These factors, among others, increased the difficulty of design, material selection, fabrication and construction, and had a significant impact on the robustness of safety programs and training at Point Thomson.

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Point Thomson is located in a remote area, 60 miles east of Prudhoe Bay and 60 miles west of the village of Kaktovik. The combination of remote location and limited permanent infrastructure made it difficult to transport equipment and materials to the site, and careful planning was required to capitalize on short construction and logistics windows. Not to mention the extreme and often unpredictable arctic weather conditions created many challenges for execution of construction activities.

ExxonMobil's work with Alaskans and Alaska companies was critical to successfully develop the field, and thousands of Alaskans worked both on-site and around the state during peak construction.

Q What's different about the fittings, pumps, compressors, and pipes at Point Thomson compared to Prudhoe Bay?

A Due to the high pressure design requirements and...

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