Hilcorp Alaska adding to project momentum
ing its 50th anniversary after begin - ning production in 1977. The field is still the largest U.S. producing field and produces about half of the North Slope’s output. ExxonMobil and Con - ocoPhillips are Hilcorp’s partners at Prudhoe Bay and the three companies each own about a third of the field and its production. With all of this work underway, along with operations in Cook Inlet, where Hilcorp is the major gas pro - ducer and operator of aging offshore oil platforms, Hilcorp’s Alaska em - ployees now number 1,750, up from 1,500 five years ago. Its contractors employ an additional 3,500, up from about 2,500 five years ago. The com - pany employs about 300 in its An - chorage office. Hilcorp operates eight drill rigs with five on the North Slope and two in Cook Inlet.
the use of a polymer flood technolo - gy to boost production from the vis - cous oil in the Schrader Bluff deposit at Milne Point. It has been a remarkable success. Milne Point production was over 51,000 barrels per day in January and Hilcorp hopes to boost it to 60,000 barrels per day. State Oil and Gas Director Derek Nottingham lauded Hilcorp’s success in turning things around in an aging, declining field. “It’s highly unusual to see an op - erator completely restoring produc - tion,” in a mature field, Nottingham told a state legislative committee in January. Meanwhile, as Prudhoe Bay op - erator since taking over from BP in 2019, Hilcorp has engaged in an ag - gressive well work and drilling ef - fort that has slowed the decline of the field. Prudhoe Bay is approach -
had studied the west end develop - ment potential but Hilcorp moved ahead with the project after acquiring BP’s Alaska assets in 2019. Resource appraisal began in 2023, and based on that, Hilcorp brought in 10,000 bar - rels per day of new production from L Pad, which is in the same west end area. The O Pad gravel pad construc - tion is underway this year, and work on I Pad will follow. Hilcorp’s most significant ac - complishment, however, has been its work in developing the Milne Point field, which is adjacent to Prudhoe Bay and 100% owned by Hilcorp. Milne Point had reached its peak under BP in about 2008 and had declined to about 19,000 barrels per day when Hilcorp acquired it from BP in 2015. Hilcorp began an aggres - sive development program and add - ed two new production sites, Moose Pad and Raven Pad, and pioneered
Milne Point shows mature fields can still boost output Hilcorp Alaska has a full slate of new projects underway on the North Slope including two new production pads on the west end of the Prudhoe Bay field, new drilling and increased production at the Nikaitchuq field, where it is 100% owner, and a new production well at the Point Thom - son gas and condensate field, east of Prudhoe Bay, where Hilcorp is opera - tor and part-owner with ExxonMobil. Hilcorp’s specialty is acquiring aging, mature oil and gas fields, in - vesting and pushing redevelopment, and then increasing production. It is demonstrating this skill in Alaska, first in Cook Inlet and now on the North Slope. The new Nikaitchuq drilling, which Hilcorp calls its Oliktok Point project, involves $175 million in new investment, 13 new wells and instal - lation of a polymer injection facility. It is expected to add 9,000 barrels per day of new production in first quarter 2026. The new Prudhoe Bay west end development, which Hilcorp calls its Project Taiga, involves two new pro - duction pads, O-Pad and I-pad, with front-end engineering currently un - derway. One pad will be in produc - tion in 2028 and the other in 2040, adding 40,000 barrels per day of new production. The expected investment by the Prudhoe Bay field owners is $2 billion. As at Oliktok, the west end development will target Schrader Bluff viscous oil resources. Prudhoe’s previous operator, BP,
— Tim Bradner
Photo Courtesy Hilcorp Alaska
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