Alpine satellites construction could begin in 2005

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- Construction could get underway in the winter of 2005 with production beginning the following summer on the first of five small oil and gas deposits near the Alpine oil field.

That's according to documents prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. But ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., the developer of the projects, said the company will not make a definite decision to go ahead with construction until after completion of an environmental impact statement and the issuing of permits.

''A 2005 start of construction would be a most optimistic case,'' said spokeswoman Dawn Patience.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is a partner with ConocoPhillips on the planned projects. The first to go into production would be Nanuq, a deposit south of the main Alpine field, according to the BLM information.

Three of the five projects are on either state or Arctic Slope Regional Corp. lands, while two are within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Construction could commence on other satellites in the Colville River delta, including Fiord and Alpine West, from 2006 through 2008.

Facilities for two satellites in NPR-A, Lookout and Spark, would be completed by 2010, according to the BLM material. Lookout and Spark are two of several discoveries made by ConocoPhillips and Anadarko in the NPR-A in initial exploration after leases were sold by BLM in 1999.

Oil and gas would be transported from the five satellites in a raw, unprocessed form to the main Alpine production facility, where gas and water would be separated from the crude oil.