slowed the company’s aggressive ex - pansion and exploration plans. Bal - ash told legislators in the briefings that delineation exploration drilling has started at another discovery a few miles to the south, Quokka, and there are plans for drilling at Horseshoe, another nearby find. “With Quokka and Horseshoe, we have three Pikkas,” or the equiva - lent, Balash said. Pikka has 400 mil - lion barrels of confirmed resources for Phase One and another 500 million barrels of estimated resources that could be added in Phase Two, Lalib - erte said. Balash said Quokka has about 450 million barrels now estimated and is set to be reconfirmed in the explora - tion well now being drilled. The re - source at Horseshoe appears to be smaller, he said, but drilling planned next winter could add reserves.
reservoir pressure maintenance, Lal - iberte said. In the briefings, state and compa - ny officials acknowleged headwinds facing the industry with lower crude oil prices and increases in steel costs. And like all North Slope operators, Santos is dealing with the competition for equipment and skilled labor in a remote location. For example, Cono - coPhillips has another major project underway in the region, the larger Willow development, along with new projects in existing producing fields operated by ConocoPhillips and Hil - corp Energy. Both companies have announced increases in expected capital costs at Willow and Pikka. In its fourth quar - ter briefing for investors in January, Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said Phase One costs had increased by about $200 million, but that is less than 10% of total Phase One project costs. However, rising costs haven’t
reservoir sections with one well. San - tos has done engineering and per - mitting work for Phase Two of Pikka with intentions to move quickly into the expansion as soon as Phase One began production. State Oil and Gas Director Derek Nottingham told leg - islators in a separate January briefing that Santos will pause the expansion until it ensures Phase One is operating smoothly. When it comes, Phase Two is slat - ed to add another 80,000 barrels per day and increase Pikka’s total output to 160,000 barrels per day. With North Slope production now averaging about 480,000 barrels per day this winter, this will be a significant expansion of crude oil moving through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. Santos has completed one pro - duction pad, an oil and gas process - ing plant, 25 production wells and a plant built nearby on the Beaufort Sea coast to process seawater to inject for
— Tim Bradner
Photo Courtesy Santos
Santos, Repsol to begin production at Pikka field The Pikka project is slated to add about 80,000 barrels per day to Alaska’s oil output at its peak this summer.
Building Alaska for over 40 years
• Heavy Civil • Oil Field • Marine Transportation • Camps
field is 99% complete and is in the commissioning stage for testing of equipment. The company expects to ramp up production gradually to reach its ex - pected 80,000 barrels per day peak by mid-summer and to remain on a plateau of output for several years, he said. Santos is 51% owner of Pik - ka with a minority partner, Repsol, at 49%. “This winter we are down to com - missioning teams for the various sys - tems. Construction activity is largely down to ‘punchlist’ items,” said Joe
Balash, Alaska External Affairs Vice President for Santos. “We continue to have drilling crews for the Nabors 272 running 24/7 and the Nordic Calista is drilling the Quokka well for us. Num - bers vary as the work changes, but we are currently running less than 1,000 personnel in our camps,” Balash said. Meanwhile, the producing wells being drilled for Pikka continue to perform well in tests. The company’s 23rd production well achieved 8,000 barrels per day in tests, the highest production rate to date at Pikka. The 24th well drilled tapped two
First oil coming in March, with output set to rise quickly Santos will begin production at the new Pikka field in northern Alas - ka in late March, company officials have told Alaska legislators in brief - ings. Pete Laliberte, Santos’s Alaska Business Development Vice Presi - dent, told the resources committees of the state House and Senate the
PALMER : 907.746.3144 | DEADHORSE: 907.670.2506 | KENAI: 907.283.1085 ONLINE AT CRUZCONSTRUCT.COM
22
THE LINK: The Official Magazine of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance | SPRING 2026
www.AlaskaAlliance.com 23
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker