NEWS BULLETIN

August 04, 2004 --- Vol. 10, No. 68August 2004

ConocoPhillips applies for expansion of Alpine oil pool

ConocoPhillips Alaska has applied to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to expand the area of the Alpine oil pool covered by the commission’s production and injection orders.

The proposed expansion area is within the Colville River unit, and drilling would be from Colville River unit drill site CD2.

ConocoPhillips said information for the requested expansion comes from results of its development drilling, which “has greatly increased our knowledge of the distribution of the sands” in the Alpine participating area and has allowed it to better correlate seismic data with reservoir sands. Original oil in place in the expansion area is estimated at 31 million to 55 million barrels, and the company said that range “will undoubtedly change as new drilling information becomes available.”

ARCO Alaska Inc., ConocoPhillips Alaska’s predecessor, told the commission in 1999 that Alpine contained an estimated 960 million barrels of oil in place, and that with horizontal wells and a miscible water-alternating-gas oil recovery process implemented at startup, recovery was expected to be 45 percent, or some 429 million barrels.

At a midpoint in the 31 million to 55 million barrel range the proposed expansion area would add less than 5 percent to oil in place at the field.

ANS production down on Alpine, pipeline shutdowns

Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 825,733 barrels per day in July, down 11.63 percent from June, due primarily to the beginning of a scheduled shutdown at Alpine for facility expansion and maintenance work. A 30-hour scheduled shutdown of the trans-Alaska pipeline July 10-11 for maintenance combined with summer temperatures, which make compressors used for gas re-injection less efficient, contributed to an average production drop at all North Slope fields from June to July.

The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field, which ramped down to marginal production July 19 and had no production from July 21 through the end of the month, averaged 54,173 bpd for the month, compared to 102,864 bpd in June.

The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 21,502 bpd in July, down 12.9 percent from a June average of 24,678 bpd. The BP-operated Lisburne field averaged 47,318 bpd in July, down 9.26 percent from a June average of 52,146 bpd.

The BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field averaged 397,464 bpd in July, down 7.9 percent from a June average of 431,444 bpd. BP’s Milne Point field averaged 49,490 bpd in July, down 6.91 percent from a June average of 53,161 bpd.

The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 185,921 bpd, down 5.76 percent from a June average of 197,275 bpd.

BP’s Northstar field averaged 69,865 bpd in July, down 4.13 percent from a June average of 72,875 bpd.

The July North Slope temperature averaged 49.8 degrees Fahrenheit at Pump Station No. 1, compared to a three-year average of 46.9 degrees F.

Production in Cook Inlet averaged 23,694 bpd, down 2.94 percent from a June average of 24,411 bpd.

See complete stories in Aug. 8 issue of Petroleum News.


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