ANS October crude up 3.5% over September
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Greater Mooses Tooth volumes included for first time; Point Thomson back on production; Cook Inlet averages 14,802, basically flat
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 521,781 barrels per day in October, up 3.5 percent, 15,532 bpd, from a September average of 503,996 but down 3.3 percent from an October 2017 average of 539,770 bpd.
October volumes include first production from Greater Mooses Tooth 1 and a return to production at Point Thomson following maintenance.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Greater Mooses Tooth 1 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska came online Oct. 5, ahead of a year-end schedule with production for October averaging 7,754 bpd. Greater Mooses Tooth is being developed as a satellite of the Colville River unit from facilities at Alpine and is connected by road to drill site CD5. Initial production is from GMT1; GMT2 received a federal record of decision and in October ConocoPhillips said a final investment decision had been made for GMT2. The Bureau of Land Management is preparing an environmental impact statement for the Willow discovery in the Bear Tooth unit.
The ExxonMobil Production Co.-operated Point Thomson field averaged 5,129 bpd in October, up 5,036 bpd from a September average of 93 bpd. Point Thomson was essentially down July through September, with the field’s one production well online only one day in each of those months and production averaging fewer than 100 bpd. There have been difficulties with compressors at the high-pressure gas condensate field. The company told Petroleum News in August that the field was down for maintenance.
In October, Point Thomson was online for 30 days out of 31. The field was designed to produce 10,000 bpd of condensate and reinject 200 million cubic feet of gas per day. Production began in April of 2016 and reached 9,575 bpd in November of 2017.
Production figures are compiled by Petroleum News from Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission data. The commission provides volumes by well and field on a month-delay basis.
Prudhoe, Kuparuk The BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field, the North Slope’s largest, averaged 268,623 bpd in October (47,016 bpd of that from natural gas liquids), up 2.8 percent, 7,322 bpd, from a September average of 261,301 bpd, but down 6.9 percent from an October 2017 average of 288,557 bpd.
In addition to Prudhoe oil, production from the Prudhoe Bay field includes other pools: Aurora, Borealis, Lisburne, Midnight Sun, Niakuk, Polaris, Point McIntyre, Put River, Raven and Schrader Bluff.
The Kuparuk River field, operated by ConocoPhillips, averaged 110,648 bpd in October, up 3.3 percent, 3,572 bpd, from a September average of 107,076 and up 0.7 percent from an October 2017 average of 109,937 bpd. In addition to the main Kuparuk pool, Kuparuk produces from satellites at Meltwater, Tabasco and Tarn, and from West Sak.
Badami, operated by Glacier Oil & Gas subsidiary Savant Alaska, averaged 1,846 bpd in October, up 2.6 percent, 47 bpd, from a September average of 1,799 bpd and up 125 percent from an October 2017 average of 819 bpd.
The Hilcorp Alaska-operated Northstar field averaged 11,103 bpd in October, up 2.2 percent, 241 bpd, from a September average of 10,862 and up 10.3 percent from an October 2017 average of 10,069 bpd.
Other fields down Other North Slope fields had month-over-month production declines.
ConocoPhillips’ Colville River unit averaged 62,266 bpd in October, down 7.8 percent, 5,299 bpd, from a September average of 67,565 and down 3.6 percent from an October 2017 average of 64,566 bpd. In addition to oil from the main Alpine pool, Colville production includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Oooguruk, operated by Caelus Alaska, averaged 10,025 bpd in October, down 3.4 percent, 351 bpd, from a September average of 10,376 bpd and down 16.7 percent from an October 2017 average of 12,029 bpd.
The Hilcorp Alaska-operated Endicott field averaged 7,198 bpd in October, down 1.8 percent, 133 bpd, from a September average of 7,331 and down 7.7 percent from an October 2017 average of 7,798 bpd.
Nikaitchuq, operated by Eni, averaged 16,091 bpd in October, down 1 percent, 162 bpd, from a September average of 16,253 and down 18.6 percent from an October 2017 average of 19,766 bpd.
The Hilcorp Alaska-managed Milne Point field averaged 21,099 bpd in October, down 0.9 percent, 196 bpd, from a September average of 21,295 bpd but up 12.6 percent from an October 2017 average of 18,738 bpd.
Cook Inlet Cook Inlet production averaged 14,802 bpd in October, up 0.2 percent, 25 bpd, from a September average of 14,777 but down 6.9 percent from an October 2017 average of 15,890 bpd.
The largest month-over-month increase was at Redoubt Shoal, operated by Glacier Oil & Gas subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy. It averaged 1,331 bpd in October, up 10.9 percent from a September average of 1,201 bpd.
Production from the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Swanson River field averaged 1,262 bpd in October, up 3.4 percent from a September average of 1,221.
Hilcorp’s Trading Bay field averaged 1,409 bpd in October, up 1.5 percent from a September average of 1,388 bpd.
The Cook Inlet Energy-operated West McArthur River field averaged 777 bpd in October, up 1 percent from a September average of 769 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Beaver Creek field, Cook Inlet’s smallest, averaged 71 bpd in October, down 4.8 percent from a September average of 75 bpd.
Hilcorp’s McArthur River field, Cook Inlet’s largest, averaged 4,562 bpd in October, down 2.3 percent from a September average of 4,671 bpd.
BlueCrest’s Hansen field, the Cosmopolitan project, averaged 1,176 bpd in October, down 1.8 percent from a September average of 1,197 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Middle Ground Shoal averaged 1,478 bpd in October, down 1.1 percent from a September average of 1,494 bpd.
Granite Point, also operated by Hilcorp, averaged 2,736 bpd in October, down 1 percent from a September average of 2,763 bpd.
ANS crude oil production peaked in 1988 at 2.1 million bpd; Cook Inlet crude oil production peaked in 1970 at more than 227,000 bpd.
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