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ANS production drops 1 percent in April
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Driven by a shutdown at Gathering Center 2 at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska North Slope production averaged 757,181 barrels per day in April, down 0.9 percent from a March average of 764,273.
The BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field had the largest month-to-month production drop, down 7.6 percent, averaging 316,846 bpd in April compared to 343,060 bpd in March. Prudhoe Bay production includes western satellites Midnight Sun, Aurora, Polaris, Borealis and Orion.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that North Slope output was down some 90,000 bpd on April 25, following an April 23 accident when a side-boom crane hit an electric power line, shutting down GC-2. The plant had already been partially shut down April 21-22 for maintenance and after the accident BP told the Daily News it kept the plant idled to perform other maintenance, rather than doing a partial restart. Full oil production was not expected to be restored until near the end of the month.
Production figures for Prudhoe Bay show a drop from 332,494 bpd on April 23 to 287,851 bpd April 24 and to 236,152 bpd April 25. The rate then began to increase slowly, reaching 286,355 bpd April 29 and 327,783 bpd April 30.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart told Petroleum News May 3 that GC-2 came back on April 29 with full production of about 90,000 bpd. He said BP “took advantage of the downtime to accomplish maintenance that had been scheduled for the near future.”
Greater Prudhoe Bay includes Endicott and Lisburne production, and the combined rate from the three was 369,995 bpd in April, down 6.2 percent from a March average of 394,430 bpd.
Kuparuk production also down Production from the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk field was down 3.3 percent, averaging 163,150 bpd in April compared to 168,632 bpd in March. Kuparuk production includes West Sak, Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and Palm.
BP-operated Endicott was down 2.1 percent, averaging 49,670 bpd in April compared to 50,750 bpd in March. Endicott production currently includes some 33,000 bpd of Prudhoe Bay Flow Station 2 oil. Satellites producing through Endicott include Sag Delta, Eider and Badami.
Northstar, Milne Point, Lisburne, Alpine all up from March The BP-operated Northstar field averaged 45,661 bpd in April, up 38 percent from a March average of 33,043 bpd. Northstar was offline for gas pipeline replacement beginning in mid-February and came back online in early March, so a full month of production in April is being compared to about three-quarters of a month in March.
BP’s Milne Point field averaged 32,023 bpd in April, up 16.3 percent from a March average of 27,540 bpd. Milne Point production includes Schrader Bluff. The Department of Revenue’s Tax Division reported that the Milne Point plant was shutdown April 9, with output reduced by about 12,000 barrels.
Production from the BP-operated Lisburne field, including Point McIntyre and Niakuk, averaged 20,149 bpd in April, up 9.7 percent from an average of 18,370 bpd in March.
Production from the ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 129,682 bpd in April, up 5.5 percent from a March average of 122,878 bpd. Alpine includes two satellites, Fiord and Nanuq.
The temperature at Pump Station No. 1 on the North Slope averaged 12.1 degrees Fahrenheit in April, compared to minus 17.5 degrees F in March.
Cook Inlet crude production averaged 15,550 bpd in April, down 1.4 percent from a March average of 15,773 bpd.
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