ExxonMobil Mobilizes Rig for Point Thomson Drilling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - (Business Wire) ExxonMobil Production Company announced today that it has mobilized the drilling rig for the Point Thomson Project.

The rig, owned by Nabors Alaska, has been upgraded to drill the high pressure wells at Point Thomson. It was moved from Deadhorse to the drilling site in modules, some weighing more than one million pounds.

As there are no permanent roads to Point Thomson, Fairweather E&P Services Inc. and Nanuq/AFC constructed over 30 miles of ice road to enable the transport of heavy equipment and materials while protecting the North Slope environment. Most of the ice road follows the shore line along the Beaufort Sea.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) authorized the ice-road permits on January 27, allowing mobilization of the drilling rig and provided guidance to other regulatory agencies to expedite permitting to allow drilling to begin.

Craig Haymes, Alaska production manager for ExxonMobil, said, "We are moving forward with drilling and development activities at Point Thomson, for the mutual benefit of Alaskans and the Point Thomson Unit working interest owners. DNR staff and other local, State and Federal agencies have worked tirelessly to process permits necessary to allow drilling to begin. We are on schedule to begin production at Point Thomson by year-end 2014 and look forward to working with the State to resolve the remaining Point Thomson issues to ensure the project schedule is not impacted. Construction crews recently completed the final installation of camps and support facilities at the existing gravel pad to accept the rig. Over 250 people will work on these drilling operations, with an average of over 500 people at year-end 2014, when we expect to begin production.”