Mobilized

ExxonMobil Corp. has recently begun drilling at the Point Thomson oil and gas field on the North Slope in Alaska, the company said. Last month ExxonMobil said it had mobilized an upgraded drilling rig that can be used in the deep reservoirs using extended-reach drilling technology (see Daily GPI, April 24). It also said first production from the play is on track to begin by year-end 2014. The rig, owned by Nabors Alaska, was moved from Deadhorse on the North Slope to the drilling site in modules, some weighing more than one million pounds. Because there are no permanent roads to Point Thomson, Fairweather E&P Services Inc. and Nanuq/AFC constructed more than 30 miles of ice road. Most of the ice road follows the shoreline along the Beaufort Sea.