Aug. 18--Back in February, managers for Eni Petroleum were explaining to Alaska industry regulators how plunging oil prices and other complications had shifted their fast-track Nikaitchuq oil field development on the North Slope into a lower gear.

Now the Italian oil and gas giant is back with essentially the same strategy, but with a new set of dates for first oil from Nikaitchuq.

Even though the first barrels are now slated to come a year later than Eni originally projected, it's plain from the company's latest development plan that Nikaitchuq is a sophisticated project with an aggressive timeline.

Eni filed the plan with the state Division of Oil and Gas. It's the second such plan the company has submitted for the field, which is centered in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea north of the onshore Kuparuk oil field.

The project still involves producing Nikaitchuq's heavy, viscous oil from two drill pads, one offshore and one onshore.

While Eni's initial development plan of May 2008 had first oil flowing by the end of this year, the updated plan sees first oil by Dec. 31, 2010.

State officials, still reviewing Eni's new plan, are glad to see Eni back on track.

Eni is one of the "shining stars" of state efforts to encourage a greater diversity of companies working on the North Slope, said Nan Thompson, units manager in the Division of Oil and Gas. Rome-based Eni is a global oil and gas player and one of Italy's largest companies.

It arrived in Alaska in 2005 with the acquisition of leases from Armstrong Oil & Gas of Denver. Eni had a 30 percent stake in Nikaitchuq, but in April 2007 the company took full control of the field in acquiring Anadarko's 70 percent.

Eni is working to become only the second independent oil producer on the North Slope, and the fourth company overall to operate an oil field in the region.

The first independent, and currently the only operator other than giants BP and Conoco Phillips, is Pioneer Natural Resources, which started up its small offshore Oooguruk field last year. Eni holds a 30 percent stake in that development.

Nikaitchuq is a bigger and more complicated project. Pioneer sends Oooguruk's crude to Kuparuk for processing. Eni is developing Nikaitchuq as a standalone project with its own processing facilities located at Oliktok Point.

Eni has said Nikaitchuq is a $1.45 billion development and that it expects to produce 180 million barrels of oil.