Payment under protest, cut Arctic Fortitude back in good standing
Petroleum News reported in a June 29 News Bulletin that Alaskan Crude’s Arctic Fortitude unit would terminate July 1 if the company failed to pay $60,000 to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas and failed to provide a written statement of its intentions to complete all of the stage 2 and stage 3 work obligations in the unit plan of exploration.
Alaskan Crude officials walked into the division on Monday, July 2, and paid the $60,000 “under protest,” division unit section manager Nan Thompson told Petroleum News. “They also made the work commitment,” she said, referring to a written statement the agency Alaskan Crude had to provide, assuring the State of Alaska that it intended to complete all of its work obligations under Arctic Fortitude’s unit plan of exploration, which Alaskan Crude had initially agreed to do.
The North Slope unit would have terminated at 5:01 p.m. on July 2 (the first business day after Sunday, July 1) if Alaskan Crude had not made the payment and provided a written statement of its intentions to carry through with its commitment.
Prudhoe production down 10% in June
Greater Prudhoe Bay production (including Lisburne) was down 10.6 percent in June, averaging 343,551 barrels per day compared to 384,291 bpd in May. Lisburne dropped only 1.4 percent, averaging 19,982 bpd in June vs. 20,270 bpd in May, with the bulk of the drop coming from Prudhoe, which averaged only 290,569 bpd for the month, down 12.2 percent from a May average of 331,021 bpd.
BP-operated Greater Prudhoe accounts for more than 40 percent of Alaska North Slope production, so the Prudhoe drop also drove an ANS drop, down 7.1 percent to 724,638 bpd in June from 780,369 bpd in May.
BP-operated Northstar averaged 40,413 bpd in June, down 7.3 percent from a May average of 43,587 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 152,814 bpd in June, down 4.2 percent from a May average of 159,554 bpd.
The BP-operated Endicott field, which currently includes 33,000 bpd of Prudhoe Bay oil, averaged 47,357 bpd in June, down 3.2 percent from 48,941 bpd in May.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 135,459 bpd in June, down 2.5 percent from a May average of 138,984 bpd.
BP’s Milne Point field averaged 38,044 bpd in June, up 0.08 percent from a May average of 38,012 bpd.
See full stories in July 8 edition of Petroleum News.
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