Alpha Energy pushes for first oil in Alaska despite crude slump

Singapore

CATALIST-LISTED oil exploration and production firm Alpha Energy is re-starting work at its Mustang oil field in Alaska after years of delays, and is expecting first oil by April.

Bart Armfield, chief executive of Brooks Range Petroleum, which operates the project, told The Business Times during a visit to Singapore in early November: "We have wells in existence, some work to do on one to get it into production. We'll install an early production facility, build a very short pipeline that ties to a common carrier. All of that takes place January, February, March... late March maybe spilling into early April is first oil."

As soon as the early production facility (EPF) is installed on the tundra, the plan is to process oil at an initial rate of 3,000 barrels per…