ANS May production up 7% from April drop

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Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 714,913 barrels per day in May, up 6.7 percent from an April average of 670,030 bpd. April production was driven down by a drop of almost 15 percent in Prudhoe Bay production and a rebound in Prudhoe production made a positive difference of more than 40,000 bpd in May-over-April production.

Prudhoe Bay May production averaged 360,816 bpd, up 12.7 percent from the April average of 320,120 bpd. Prudhoe Bay April production was affected by proration on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline early in the month related to the tanker schedule and by preventative maintenance at the field.

Tanker issues also affected May production (see related story on this page).

Prudhoe Bay is operated by BP Exploration (Alaska) and volumes include the initial producing area and satellites at Midnight Sun, Aurora, Polaris, Borealis and Orion.

Lisburne, part of greater Prudhoe Bay and also operated by BP, averaged 31,029 bpd in May, up 32.5 percent from an April average of 23,421 bpd. April production at Lisburne was also affected by maintenance. Lisburne includes production from Point McIntyre and Niakuk.

The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 13,623 bpd in May, up 8 percent from an April average of 12,618 bpd.

BP’s Milne Point field averaged 30,517 bpd in May, up 1.8 percent from an April average of 29,990 bpd.

Other fields had decreases

The BP-operated Northstar field averaged 23,154 bpd, down 3.4 percent from an April average of 23,969 bpd.

The Alpine field averaged 107,486 bpd in May, down 2.8 percent from an April average of 110,554 bpd. Alpine, operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska, is the major field in the Colville River unit and includes production from satellites at Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.

The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 148,288 bpd in May, down 0.7 percent from an April average of 149,358 bpd. Kuparuk production includes satellites at Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.

Production on the North Slope is also seasonally affected by warmer weather because gas compression is less efficient when temperatures rise. The Pump Station No. 1 temperature averaged 28.9 degrees Fahrenheit in May, compared to 6.9 degrees F in April.

Cook Inlet continues to fall

Production from Cook Inlet, dramatically cut in April by the shutdown of the Drift River terminal on the west side of the inlet due to volcanic eruptions at Mount Redoubt, averaged just 3,522 bpd in May, down 31.4 percent from an April average of 5,134 — that number a drop from almost 11,000 bpd in March.

ANS crude oil production peaked in 1988 at some 2 million barrels a day; Cook Inlet crude oil production peaked in 1970 at more than 227,000 bpd.