ExxonMobil Production Co. has resumed drilling on two wells started earlier this year at Point Thomson on Alaska’s North Slope and is on schedule to reach total depth by year-end 2010, the company said Wednesday.

The company drilled each of the wells, PTU-15 and PTU-16, to approximately 5,000 feet during the summer, as deep as possible during the ice-free season. Drilling into deeper formations is permitted only from Nov. 1 through April 15.

This season’s drilling program follows a successful summer work program, which delivered more than 30,000 tons of fuel, equipment and supplies in 120 barge runs from the Prudhoe Bay West Dock, some 60 miles west of the Point Thomson drilling site, the company said.

“We are making real progress at Point Thomson and are on schedule to start production in 2014,” said Dale Pittman, Alaska production manager for ExxonMobil. “We are working to resolve the unit and lease dispute with the Department of Natural Resources to ensure Point Thomson’s development continues” (see Daily GPI, Sept. 10; April 24).

The project owners have invested more than $300 million to date, 80% of which has been spent in Alaska, Pittman said. Point Thomson holds an estimated 8 Tcf of gas — about 25% of the North Slope’s gas resource — and about 200 million bbl of condensate, according to ExxonMobil.

The project is expected to process 200 MMcf/d of gas in order to produce approximately 10,000 b/d of liquid condensate into the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, with capacity for up to 10,000 additional b/d of oil. After processing, the gas will be recycled into the reservoir, making Point Thomson the highest-pressure gas cycling operation in the world, ExxonMobil said. Gas from the field will help underpin a future Alaskan gas pipeline project (see Daily GPI, Nov. 5), ExxonMobil said.

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