n the race to be the newest North Slope unit to put oil into the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, Santos and ConocoPhillips look like golden picks, with their developments at Pikka and the Willow project in the Bear Tooth Unit, respectively. But they’ll have to take silver and bronze to the Southern Miluveach Unit, starting production this winter.

The unit, situated between Pikka and ConocoPhillips’ Kuparuk River Unit, is the site of the Mustang project. Compared to the 80,000 barrel per day production forecast from Pikka, Mustang is expected to be smaller, more on the scale of the Nuna project that ConocoPhillips is adding to Kuparuk River.

“Mustang production may reach 10,000 to 15,000 barrels a day when it is fully developed,” says Harry Bockmeulen, COO of Finnex, a subsidiary formed by Texas-based Thyssen Petroleum to develop its Alaska holdings.

Proximity to the Alpine pipeline helped the economics of the Mustang project, even at relatively low projected volume. Based on seismic surveys from 2008, recoverable reserves at Mustang were estimated at 10 million to 40 million barrels. That gives the project a production life of up to thirty years. That life starts now.

“We have all necessary regulatory approvals to allow production,” says Bockmeulen.

With close attention to nearby fragile wetlands, the project will use directional drilling. With the permanent pad in place and road access, Finnex will be able to work year-round, according to the company.

Production has been more than a decade in coming. The unit was originally formed by Brooks Range Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of Kansas-based Alaska Venture Capital Group (AVCG). Briefly named “North Tarn” before it was approved as Southern Miluveach, the unit covers 8,960 acres. The unit is just the southeastern corner of the area that Brooks Range Petroleum Company, as operator and minority owner, had requested to be a much larger unit.

Over the winter of 2011 and 2012, the only exploration wells drilled on the North Slope were at Mustang. After laying the groundwork, though, Brooks Range Petroleum Company is out of the picture.

In 2020, the Mustang field’s former majority owner, Caracol Petroleum of Singapore, defaulted on a loan from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). Finnex had hoped to acquire a majority stake in the project, but after AIDEA foreclosed on Caracol, Finnex decided to step back until timing was better.

AIDEA kept Mustang afloat with infusions of $72 million to develop its essential infrastructure. The Alaska Department of Revenue also supplied a $22.5 million bridge loan.

Recognizing its difficulty in bringing the field online, however, AIDEA board members passed a resolution in September 2023 stating that AIDEA’s best interests would be served by divesting the project. At that point, Finnex swooped in and, within a month, AIDEA put the Mustang field and its holding company back into private-sector ownership.

“Mustang Holding now has a 96.17 percent working interest in the Southern Miluveach Unit, as we acquired the Nabors’ interest earlier this year,” says Bockmeulen. “AVCG remains as our partner with a minority interest.” Nabors Drilling had been a minority owner, with a 6.1 percent share.

Before 2023 was over, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources gave the Finnex plan of development the go-ahead for a restart of Mustang.

Finnex worked with Ennovate Consultants out of Calgary, Alberta. “Ennovate has provided engineering, project/construction management, and procurement services to the Mustang Project since 2018, and we were involved in the sale of the asset and the evolution from 2018 to where we are now,” says Ennovate Managing Director Khaled Saleh.

In preparation for the project, Ennovate delivered multiple modules for Mustang, including enclosed production and electrical modules as well as structural platforms, such as pigging facilities (to clean pipelines) and a pipe rack bridge module fabricated in Big Lake, according to the company.

“Ennovate continues to work with Finnex on the Mustang Project as it transitions through commissioning and onto the next phases of expansion and growth,” says Saleh.

Ennovate helped install pipeline connecting the Mustang pad production facility to the ConocoPhillips Kuparuk pipelines. The two six-inch pipelines, one for crude oil and the other for seawater, had to be delivered in rapid time. The company also constructed an ice road for transportation of materials.

Ennovate partnered with Conam Construction Co. of Anchorage, and the company says the collaboration led to an excellent safety record and zero loss-time incidents.

“Conam are one of the most experienced construction firms in Alaska and on the North Slope, and they help deliver projects on-time and on-budget,” says Saleh.

Fairweather, a support services company acquired by Doyon, Limited in 2023, was another subcontractor for the project. “Fairweather was recently the lead contractor for two successful wells and is committed to supporting Finnex in developing Mustang safely, efficiently, and with respect for the environment,” says Doyon Communications Manager Cheyenna K. Kuplack. “Fairweather provided Finnex with engineering services, well design, and oversight of field operations, including logistics.”

Heading up the operation is Bockmeulen, who has made his lengthy career in oil production. “It’s been forty-plus years,” Bockmeulen says.

He worked for BP for twenty years and then at Petrofac, an international energy service company. “My experience with Petrofac was very valuable in that they gave me the opportunity to build a company from nothing to one operating four fields, on and offshore, and producing over 25,000 barrels of oil per day,” says Bockmeulen. “It exposed me to a wide variety of experiences.”

And with those experiences in hand, he is bringing the multi-faceted Mustang project to fruition, lending his expertise on processing, power generation, compression, storage, metering, and accommodations for staff and contractors. Bockmeulen estimates there were more than thirty employees working on site.

When he visited the site in early November, crews were busy 24 hours a day to get Mustang ready for first oil.

He reports, “It’s going well, but there’s still a lot to be done by target date.”