The Design of Alaskan North Slope Production Wells

• Published in: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
• Main Author: Koch, R. D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1970
• Subjects: Arctic; permafrost; Prudhoe Bay
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1243/pime_proc_1970_185_112_02; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1243/PIME_PROC_1970_185_112_02

In 1970, three senior members of BP's Exploration Department received the MacRobert award for their outstandingly successful Alaskan North Slope exploration, which led to BP's acquisition of the leases to over half of the great Prudhoe Bay oilfield, estimated to contain in excess of 1000m tons of recoverable high quality crude oil. Their determination of the distribution of the permafrost, permanently frozen ground, and the effect that permafrost had on seismic reflections, significantly contributed to their successes. While a great deal of information on operating under Arctic conditions and providing livable working conditions for hundreds of men was available, nothing was known of the effects of producing hot oil from wells completed through up to 2000 feet of permafrost. The paper traces the events leading to the discovery of oil on the North Slope and outlines some of the design problems which BP had to resolve to exploit this discovery.