Exxon touts progress on Alaska's North Slope

POINT THOMSON, Alaska, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Exxon Mobil announced it reached a number of construction milestones in Alaska it says will unlock parts of the energy-rich North Slope region.

Exxon announced it reached a series of "infrastructure milestones" at its Point Thomson project on Alaska's North Slope.

Karen Hagedorn, the company's production manager in Alaska, wrote Saturday in the Anchorage Daily News the company was working on a pipeline system that could handle as much as 20 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.

"Point Thomson holds approximately 25 percent of the known natural gas deposits on the North Slope, and is designed to produce and deliver approximately 10,000 barrels of condensate per day into the trans-Alaska pipeline when the project comes online in 2016," she said.

The company announced Friday it set up an airstrip and camps for site employees. It said more than 35 Alaskan companies were at work at the facility.

The company said it expected to have a system linking Point Thomson to the trans-Alaska pipeline system by the end of the year.

Gina Dickerson, senior project manager at Point Thomson, said work so far was helping the state reach its full energy potential.

"Point Thomson's infrastructure can help unlock the eastern portion of the North Slope for expanded exploration and development activity," she said in a statement Friday.