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mately to Trans Alaska Pipeline Pump Station One at Prudhoe Bay. The project is expected to boost production by 6,000 barrels per day be- ginning in the middle of 2026, said De- nali Kemppel, a Hilcorp Alaska vice president, in a briefing to the House Re- sources Committee of the state Legisla- ture this spring. The project involved a $50 million investment in ice roads and construction in 2025 and the movement of Doyon Drilling’s Rig 15 by barge to Point Thomson, Kemppel told legislators.
The company will also move the Nordic 15 rig to the field. At Prudhoe Bay, Hilcorp is working on its Project Taiga, a project to develop two new production pads — “I pad” and “O Pad” — on the west end of the Prud- hoe field. The gravel pad for O Pad was scheduled to be built in early 2026. The project will cost about $1 billion and will add about 30,000 barrels per day at peak to Prudhoe Bay production, Kemppel said. Development of I Pad will follow.
drill expectations, Santos said. First sales of oil are expected two to three months following first oil, with Santos and its partner, Repsol, alternating tanker ship- ments from the Port of Valdez. Santos owns 51% of Pikka with Repsol as a minority owner at 49%. Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher de- scribed Pikka as a “tier-one asset in one of the world’s super basins.” "Alaska has a huge runway ahead of it which will underpin our production growth for Santos for the long term. When the Pikka Field was discovered, the Nanushuk formation was recognized as a new generation play in an established global super basin, and we are proud to be at the forefront of unlocking its re- source potential,” Gallagher said. “As we now take Pikka phase 1 into operations, we are transitioning from project execu- tion to our disciplined, low-cost operat- ing model which will maximize the proj- ect’s value.” Earlier this year, Santos announced results of its Quokka-1 appraisal well south of Pikka, which demonstrated the quality of the company’s broader Alaska portfolio. Quokka has been described as a “second Pikka” development. “With development of the Quokka and Horseshoe Units of the high-quality Nanushuk reservoir ahead of us, we have clear line of sight to strong production growth on the North Slope, subject to continued appraisal, development plan- ning and final investment decisions,” Gallagher said. As Pikka is geared up, a number of other North Slope projects are underway including ConocoPhillips’ ongoing con- struction of its Willow field, expected to begin production in 2029. ConocoPhil- lips has a number of other new projects underway in and near the larger pro- ducing fields, such as the Kuparuk River field, where it is the owner and operator. Hilcorp Energy also has projects un- derway in fields where it is operator, at the large Prudhoe Bay field and at Point Thomson, the large gas and condensate field about 60 miles east of Prudhoe Bay. Hilcorp is drilling a new production well at Point Thomson, which will increase the flow of condensates though the pipe- line that connects the field with the small Badami oil field further west and ulti-
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SANTOS, REPSOL BEGIN PRODUCTION AT PIKKA Photo Courtesy Santos First sales of oil are expected two to three months following first oil, with Santos and its partner, Repsol, alternating tanker shipments from the Port of Valdez.
First oil begins flowing at project destined for 80,000 barrels per day BY TIM BRADNER SANTOS HAS STARTED PRODUCTION AT ITS NEW PIKKA FIELD ON ALASKA'S NORTH SLOPE. PHASE 1 OF THE PROJECT IS UNDERWAY WITH
THE FIRST OIL FLOWING MAY 17 THROUGH THE LEASE AUTOMATED CUSTODY TRANSFER ME- TER INTO THE PIKKA SALES OIL PIPELINE. Pikka will see an initial ramp-up to 20,000 barrels per day through late May and early June as key systems are progres- sively brought online, Santos said in its announcement. Production is expected to be maintained at that level for about a month until water injection is established
following the startup of the Seawater Treatment Plant. Together with the production well development and progression of well tie- ins, the project is expected to reach a pro- duction plateau of 80,000 barrels per day during the third quarter, Santos said. At “first oil,” 28 development wells have been drilled, of which 21 have been stimulated with results meeting the pre-
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ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW JUNE 2026
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