THE LINK: WINTER 2025 14 CONTINUED from PAGE 13 Santos is aiming to begin Pikka in production at the end of 2025. six to eight wells. The 2025 plan also includes installation of remaining field pipelines and pipelines for crude oil shipments, seawater transport for reservoir pressure maintenance and fuel gas brought in from other fields. Oil Search also will continue work on Pikka’s Grind and Inject facility, Seawater Treatment Plant and completion of the Nanushuk Operations Pad, it told the state Division of Oil and Gas. The Grind and Inject facility grinds the rock cuttings from drilling along with the used drilling fluids, or “mud,” for injection underground in a dedicated disposal well. The material is stored in an underground reservoir sealed by impervious rock in a process approved by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the state’s quasi-judiciary body that regulates “downhole” oil and gas production including safe disposal of materials such as drill fluids. There are several Grind and Inject facilities serving other oil fields on the North Slope including the large Prudhoe Bay field. The Seawater Treatment Plant built for Pikka treats saltwater from the Beaufort Sea for transport to the Pikka field and injection for reservoir pressure maintenance. ConocoPhillips operates a similar Seawater Treatment Plant nearby. Oil Search/Santos are already preparing for a phase two at Pikka, which involves two additional pads. The company said previously that phase two work will begin as soon as phase one production is underway. Further exploration is also being done this winter on discoveries made south of Pikka. — Tim Bradner
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