NEWS BULLETIN

February 03, 1998 --- Vol. 4, No. 8February 1998

ANS term price down another 11 percent for February

BP America’s term price for Alaska North Slope crude was posted Monday at $14.77 a barrel, down 11.1 percent from January’s term price of $16.41 a barrel.

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. spokesman Paul Laird told PNA this was the lowest price since April of 1994, when the term price was $12.88 a barrel, up from a low of $10.38 a barrel in January 1994.

The Alaska Department of Revenue oil and gas audit division has again lowered its fiscal year 1998 year-end price estimate. Using actual June through January ANS market prices and West Texas Intermediate futures-adjusted prices for the remainder of the fiscal year, the division is now estimating $16.80 a barrel as the average ANS price for fiscal year 1998. This is down $1.31 a barrel from the division’s fall 1997 estimate of $18.11 a barrel.

The division said ANS market oil prices averaged $14.66 a barrel for January, down $1.73 a barrel from a December average of $16.39 a barrel, and attributed depressed prices to ample crude stocks and warmer than normal January temperatures.

BP’s term prices hit a high for 1997 in February, at $23.63 a barrel, and a low for the year of $17.21 a barrel in July. The December term price was $18.32 a barrel, down 6.9 percent from November. The January term price was down 11.6 percent from December.

The year-to-date average price is $15.59 a barrel, down a third from the comparable average for 1997 of $23.57 a barrel.

BP is the largest producer of ANS crude and the only producer to post term prices.

January crude production down

Alaska crude oil production for January averaged 1.295 million barrels a day, down more than 1,000 barrels a day from an average of 1.296 million barrels a day in December.

The Alaska Department of Revenue division of oil and gas audit said the drop was caused by 14 days of unforeseen maintenance at the Lisburne production center. Lisburne, which handles production from the Point McIntyre, Niakuk and Lisburne fields, averaged only 149,280 barrels a day in January, down an average of 44,294 barrels a day, 29.7 percent, from an average of 193,574 barrels a day in December.

Production also dropped at Endicott, averaging 58,200 barrels a day in January, down 2.2 percent, 1,262 barrels a day, from December production averaging 59,462 barrels a day.

Prudhoe Bay production up

Prudhoe Bay production averaged 730,700 barrels a day in January, up 5.4 percent from December production averaging 691,382 barrels a day. Kuparuk River field production averaged 268,491 barrels a day in January, up 0.9 percent from an average of 266,128 barrels a day in December.

Milne Point January production averaged 55,330 barrels a day, up 3.5 percent from an average of 53,416 barrels a day in December.

Cook Inlet production also rose, averaging 32,728 barrels a day for January, up 2.8 percent from an average of 31,799 barrels a day in December.

Prudhoe Bay natural gas liquids production averaged 62,136 barrels a day, down 5.3 percent from an average of 63,214 barrels a day for December.


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