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Wednesday, 20 August, 2008, 08:10 GMT | more prices >>

ExxonMobil reveals Alaska drill plan



By Upstream staff 

US giant ExxonMobil has unveiled a plan to begin drilling on its disputed Point Thomson gas and condensate field in Alaska.

The company has been under pressure to develop the field or face cancellation of its lease by the state.

ExxonMobil has proposed to begin drilling on the field in the winter of 2008-09 in order to proceed with a multi-year $1.3 billion development programme that would see initial production of 10,000 barrels per day of condensate from the field by the end of 2014.

According to Reuters, the state of Alaska began proceedings to cancel the Point Thomson leases in December 2006, arguing ExxonMobil and its partners had failed to put the field into production as stipulated by the leases.

Point Thomson is believed to contain at least 11 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas reserves and another 200 million barrels of condensates.

Alaska officials have complained that ExxonMobil and its partners were dragging their feet on developing the field, hindering the state's efforts to build a gas pipeline to connect the North Slope with gas markets in the rest of the US.

An Alaska gas pipeline is not expected to be in service before 2018 at least.

In addition to ExxonMobil, its fellow oil majors BP, ConocoPhillips and Chevron have major ownership stakes in the field.


Wednesday, 20 February, 2008, 16:42 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 20 February, 2008, 16:47 GMT

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