Furie Operating Alaska’s platform has arrived in Alaska from Texas.
The platform was built in Ingleside, Texas, this summer. On June 4 it left Corpus Christi, Texas, traveled through the Gulf of Mexico, went through the Panama Canal, sailed north through the Pacific Ocean and arrived in Kachemak Bay on Sept. 9, according to a press release from Furie.
The monopod platform will be set over Furie’s Kitchen Lights Unit No. 3 well, which is located in Cook Inlet about 20 miles northeast of Nikiski. In June 2013, commercially producible natural gas was discovered at the well.
Installation of the platform, which has a surface area of 0.3 acres, will begin in the spring of 2015, after the ice leaves Cook Inlet, according to the release. An 18-foot diameter caisson will support the platform.
Several Crowley Solutions barges with components for the project are in Kachemak Bay now, said Homer Harbormaster Bryan Hawkins. One barge has a large pile-driving rig.
A 16-mile subsea pipeline will connect the platform to the onshore processing facility in Nikiski. Construction at the facility began this summer and will continue through the winter, according to the release.
Furie expects the project to employ more than 200 construction workers and up to 35 full-time employees, according to the release.
While the company projected production of natural gas to begin in the last quarter of 2014, the release states that the target on-line date is now mid-2015.
The Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas approved Furie’s development plan on May 1 of this year.
The Kitchen Lights Unit is expected to produce up to 200 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas. Furie claims operations will provide natural gas for Southcentral Alaska utility companies and industrial users. While initial production will be from the No. 3 well, up to six wells could be drilled to maximize resource recovery, according to the division’s approval decision summary.
Furie began drilling in its Kitchen Lights Unit in 2011. The company has drilled three exploration wells in the Corsair block of the unit, where the platform will be located, and one in the Northern block, according to the division decision summary.