ConocoPhillips is updating the situation regarding the natural gas leak on the North Slope. Company officials stated previously that they stopped the natural gas leak, but that there were still amounts of gas coming up from the ground at its facility in the Alpine oil field. In previous releases, they have said that the exact cause of the leak is being investigated, but crews weren’t expecting to find gas, and thus not taking proper protocols necessary to prevent it from escaping.
In a video posted on Friday regarding the response overview of Alpine CD1, ConocoPhillips stated:
“On March 28th, we proceeded to pump kill weight fluid into WD-03, acoustic logging confirmed that source control had been achieved and that gas was no longer flowing at the WD-03 outer annulus. WD-03 is in the process of being plugged with cement and permanently abandoned in accordance with agency requirements and approval. Based on available data, the volume of natural gas released into the subsurface layers under CD1 that was not flowed into our Alpine Central Facility is estimated at 7.2 million standard cubic feet. Most of the gas released into this subsurface layer is believed to have escaped into the atmosphere between March 4 and March 8. Trace amounts of gas may continue to escape into the atmosphere overtime. Throughout our response, we maintained regular communications with the appropriate regulatory agencies and stakeholders, including the local community of Nuiqsut to keep everyone fully informed about the steps we were taking in our response to identify the source of the release and remediate it.”
In a statement, ConocoPhillips says that they are committed to the safety and well-being of their workforce and community as well as protecting the environment. They also confirmed that source of the natural gas release at Alpine CD1 has been identified and controlled, and that the WD-03 well is being permanently cemented. The company will continue source remediation operations moving forward. All wells on the CD1 drillsite remain shut in except waste injection in the well CD1-01A and produced water injection in CD1-02 (restarted on April 6), CD1-03, and CD1-05, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The company will also continue to monitor the CD1 drillsite well row for gas releases and well pressures in addition to performing air monitoring.
Click here for more information. Watch entire Alpine CD1 Response Overview below:
NOTE: photo used courtesy of the ConocoPhillips social media page.