Adventures of Ken: North Slope Trip Day 1-2: June 28-29

June ended with a whirlwind of activities and obligations for me, and I am just now getting time to sit down and write them out. Since Sunday, June 28th, I have only been in Anchorage for one day, July 1st. Otherwise, I was either on the North Slope or kayaking and camping through Kachemak Bay State Park. I will write these posts as if I wrote them day of... or something like that. Whatever.

The powers that be at ConocoPhillips decided to organize a North Slope Trip for the interns so that we could get some hands on experience with the wells and operations that we are working with this summer. Even though I work in Anchorage, the actual field that I work with is on the other side of Alaska, or about a 2 hour plane ride. Dallas and St Louis are closer together than Anchorage and the Kuparuk feild. Our plane left Anchorage about 9:30 am headed for Deadhorse, AK. There is one road that goes into Deadhorse, but it is only an iceroad, therefore closed during the summer months. The show 'Ice Road Truckers,' takes place on this road. The whole community runs completely by itself. There is more to this than one might think: power generation, waste management, etc. This entire time, you are in a climate where during the summer the sun never sets, and during the winter it can get to -80 deg F.

Once we got to Deadhorse, we got on a bus to go to the Kuparuk Field, about 50 miles away. A good description of ConocoPhillips operation in Alaska can be found here. The Kuparuk field is a smaller version of Prudhoe, which is actually run by BP. Conoco runs Kuparuk. We arrived at CPF1, which is where all the workers for the Kuparuk field are housed. The place was much bigger than I expected. In my mind, I had imagined a bunch of trailer homes parked out in the tundra. This building was monstrous, housing hundreds of people. There are enclosed walkways to all the buildings for the winter months. When we got there, was a 'warm' 43 degrees with the sun on you. Needless to say, I was inside most of the time.

First thing on the agenda was lunch! We all filed into the Spark Room, which is a DIY cafeteria/ convenience store. They have make-your-own sandwiches, pre-made sandwiches, microwave dinners, leftovers from last night's hot meal, dairy products, FRUIT, donuts, etc. Best part is: it's all free! All you can eat, 24/7. I was amazed. Expecially because of the fruit. Fruit in Alaska is about 2 times more expensive than in Austin, and tastes 2 times as terrible. But the fruit on the slope is free, and delicious. I have no idea what kind of witchcraft they use to get perfectly ripe fruit up above the arctic circle, but it must be powerfull. At every meal, half of my meal was fruit.

Sunday afternoon was filled with tour the CPF1 facility. This is where all the oil from a section of the field collects, gets processed, and then is pumped down the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline (TAPS) to Valdez (pronounced Val-deez, people get mad if you say it different). The oil is then shipped to Seattle to be refined into gasoline. The facility was big and loud. I am always impressed at how big a 2800 hp engine is.

After the tour, we ate dinner, where I had prime rib and a baked potato with a large helping of mixed fruit. We had no plans after dinner, so I went and worked out in the gym, where I rode a stationary bike for 2 hrs, and then rowed a little. If it wasn't for sportcenter, I would have been bored riding a stationary bike, but I suppose it's better than nothing. I went to sleep by 10 pm, because I had to get up at 5:30 am the next morning. Can't wait for the free breakfast.

I slept better than I have since I got to Alaska because they had true black-out shades instead of the cloth I have hanging up in my room. The room was pitch-black, so I went straight to sleep. Only complaint I have was that my room was right across the hall from the raquetball court, which had someone in it 24 hrs a day.

On Monday, we toured around the field and saw the coiled-tubing rig. I was so excited to see this rig. It is all enclosed so drilling can continue during the winter, and uses the newest technologies. Pretty much, the thing drills new side-wells from existing wells, thus saving money and not disrupting more of the tundra. Les, a production engineer at CPF3, threw us an impromptu BBQ with hamburgers. I was beginning to like the North Slope.

Pictures are soon to come as soon as I have time to unpack.