June 14, 2010
http://www.adn.com/2010/06/12/1320536/bp-free-to-drill-with-liberty.html
NORTH SLOPE: Island lease not affected by deepwater restriction.
By ERIC LIDJI
Petroleum News
Published: June 12th, 2010 07:04 PM
Last Modified: June 12th, 2010 07:05 PM
The new federal moratorium on deepwater drilling won’t delay the Liberty project BP hopes to begin drilling this year from an existing island off the North Slope.
“The deepwater moratorium does not apply to this particular project,” said Frank Quimby, spokesman for the U.S. Department of the Interior. “If drilling permit applications are submitted for the project, the Department of the Interior will review them at the appropriate time and determine, based on safety and other considerations, whether the project should move forward with drilling under federal waters.”
On May 27, the Obama administration announced a six-month “pause” in deepwater drilling off the U.S. coast, a response to the April 20 drilling rig explosion that killed 11 workers and triggered the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. “Deep water” is defined as being deeper than 500 feet.
The Liberty project would develop an offshore reservoir on federal leases using ultra-extended-reach drilling from one of the man-made Endicott oil field islands in state waters of the Beaufort Sea.
BP plans to apply for drilling permits at Liberty “closer to the first development well spud date, probably by fall,” according to local spokesman Steve Rinehart.
He said BP hopes to have the first oil production by 2011.
Besides the moratorium on deepwater drilling, the Obama administration also cancelled a pending lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico and a planned lease sale off the coast of Virginia, suspended 33 exploratory wells being drilled and, in Alaska, suspended Shell Oil’s plans to drill three wells in the Chukchi Sea and two in the Beaufort this summer. Because of seasonal drilling limitations, this Alaska suspension effectively pushes back Shell’s drilling for one year. Shell was planning to drill in about 150 feet of water.
Special thanks to Richard Charter