The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission provided an updated situation report regarding the Alpine CD 1 natural gas release. A natural gas leak was discovered at the Colville River Unit operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska on Friday, March 4, 2022, at 3:25 a.m. A gas release was first observed from the ground at the Alpine Field drill site on the North Slope. Since March 4, natural gas has spilled, in addition to 590 gallons of saline water on March 9 and 10. The cause and volume of gas is currently under evaluation.
ConocoPhillips Alaska continues to assess the cause of the natural gas release. The current mitigation effort is to reduce the natural gas release by producing gas from select wells, which appears to have reduced the volumes of natural gas release to the environment. Additional diagnostics and monitoring continue to help identify the source of the natural gas release, including:
- Controlled producing gas from select wells to the Alpine production facility
- Sampling and analyzing gas from wells for composition
- Well integrity tests
- Air and well monitoring for gas releases
Monitoring results indicate no gas is detected at the Nuiqsut gas monitoring station. ConocoPhillips Alaska reports there have been no injuries and saline water releases are contained.
Doyon Rig 142 drilling activities at disposal well WD-03 were suspended on March 7, 2022, and the rig was evacuated as a precaution. The company is warming it back up to prepare for wellbore diagnostics with future activities depending on diagnostic results.
