Hilcorp seeks expanded North Slope easement for Nikaitchuq drilling

Hilcorp Alaska, LLC is asking the state for a bigger subsurface runway at Oliktok Point, filing to expand the Nikaitchuq Unit wellbore easement by 71.91 acres so new wells can keep reaching the field from the onshore production pad.

The request matters because it is not about opening a new oil field on the surface. It is about giving Hilcorp room to drill new wellbores that cross Kuparuk River Unit leases on their way to producing from Nikaitchuq, while the company says no hydrocarbons would be produced from the Kuparuk unit itself. In plain terms, the easement expansion would widen the legal and physical path for continued extended-reach drilling from Oliktok Point, which could mean more drilling activity, more contractor work and more support traffic in the Prudhoe Bay-Oliktok corridor.

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is handling the application under AS 38.05, with casefile ADL 419388. The public notice places the project in Oliktok Point in the Beechey Point Quadrangle, and public comments are due May 29, giving residents, agencies and other interested parties a short window before the state moves toward a decision. The notice says the new wells are planned for early June 2026, which puts the review on a tight operational clock.

Nikaitchuq has long been built around that kind of long-distance drilling. Eni sanctioned the project in January 2008, filed the first development plan in June 2008 and began production in January 2011 using extended-reach drilling from the onshore production pad. The current easement request suggests Hilcorp wants to keep using that model rather than shift to a different development pattern.

The filing also comes amid a broader active permitting picture on the North Slope. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued a draft air-quality operating permit for Nikaitchuq in February, showing the field is still moving through multiple state processes at once. In June 2024, Alaska Public Media reported Hilcorp planned to buy Eni’s Alaska North Slope oil fields, including Nikaitchuq and Oooguruk, pending regulatory approval, which helps explain why Hilcorp is now the operator pushing the easement change.

Hilcorp has also been leaning on Nikaitchuq’s production history as it looks for more oil. A 2025 Petroleum News report said the company had produced about 80 million barrels from the Schrader Bluff formation at Nikaitchuq and that output was just over 14,000 barrels a day from Spy Island and Oliktok Point. A separate field tracker estimated Nikaitchuq reserves at about 220 million barrels and reported 5.94 million barrels of oil production in 2022.

For North Slope communities, the practical stakes are straightforward: if the state approves the easement, Hilcorp can keep drilling on a faster timetable, with consequences for jobs, hauling, technical services, and the footprint of industrial activity around Oliktok Point and Kuparuk.