August ANS production down 8% from July

Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 398,642 bpd in August, down from 430,456; biggest drop at Prudhoe Bay

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Alaska North Slope crude oil production for August was down 8 percent from July reflecting a 30.6 percent drop at Prudhoe Bay as scheduled summer maintenance work peaked.

ANS production averaged 398,642 barrels per day in August, down 31,814 bpd from a July average of 430,456 bpd.

With the exception of the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field, other North Slope fields as reported by the Alaska Tax Division all had an August over July production increase.

BP spokeswoman Dawn Patience told Petroleum News that August was the peak of the turnaround season. Most of BP’s maintenance work began in July, and Patience said in June that for a six to eight week period the workforce would grow from about 2,500 to about 3,400, an increase of 900 to handle the turnaround.

Patience said in a Sept. 4 email that BP would complete five scheduled turnarounds at its North Slope facilities this summer, with operations expected to “return to normal within a few weeks.”

This summer’s work is focused on “facility maintenance, safety systems and other improvement projects,” she said, with turnarounds at the Prudhoe Bay Central Compression Plant, Flow Station 1, Gathering Center 1 and at the Milne Point and Northstar fields.

Prudhoe Bay production averaged 177,182 bpd in August, down 78,038 bpd from a July average of 255,220 bpd. Prudhoe Bay production figures include satellite fields at Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris, as well as the BP-operated Northstar and Milne Point fields.

Except where noted, volumes are from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division, which reports oil production only by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages for the most recent month.

Kuparuk up 27 percent

ConocoPhillips Alaska spokeswoman Natalie Lowman told Petroleum News in June that the company’s major planned maintenance began in mid-June at Kuparuk, with the main work at Central Processing Facility 2 scheduled to last some 50 days. That work included testing safety systems, making upgrades to instrumentation and electrical systems and performing internal pressure vessel inspections and repairs as necessary.

Kuparuk production figures include satellite fields at Meltwater, Tabasco and Tarn, as well as West Sak viscous oil production and production from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.

Detailed numbers available on a month-delay basis from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission break out production by fields and pools and provide Nikaitchuq and Oooguruk data.

Nikaitchuq averaged 8,061 bpd in July, up 15.8 percent from a June average of 6,962 bpd; Oooguruk averaged 6,832 bpd in July, down 15.9 percent from a June average of 8,122 bpd.

At the ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field, annual turnaround work was completed July 21, Lowman said in a Sept. 4 email and the facility restarted Aug. 10. That work included smart pigging of production lines, inspection of processing vessels and turbines, and repairs and replacement as needed to the facility’s equipment.

Alpine production averaged 55,369 bpd in August, up 22 percent from a July average of 45,375. The field was down completely for maintenance from July 22 through Aug. 9. Alpine production includes satellite fields at Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.

Endicott, Lisburne up

Endicott, which includes Sag Delta and Eider as well as the Savant Alaska-operated Badami field on the eastern edge of current producing areas, averaged 10,791 bpd in August, up 10.5 percent from a July average of 9,768 bpd.

AOGCC data for Badami shows that field averaged 1,359 bpd in July, down 3 percent from a June average of 1,401 bpd.

Lisburne, which includes Point McIntyre and Niakuk production, averaged 26,059 bpd in August, up 43.9 percent from a July average of 18,108 bpd.

AOGCC data shows Cook Inlet production averaged 10,530 bpd in July, up 3 percent from a June average of 10,222 bpd.

Cook Inlet crude oil production is from the Beaver Creek, Granite Point, McArthur River, Middle Ground Shoal, Redoubt Shoal, Swanson River, Trading Bay and West McArthur River fields, only three of which — the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Granite Point and McArthur River fields and the XTO-operated Middle Ground Shoal field, have daily production in excess of 1,000 bpd. Granite Point averaged 2,222 bpd in July, down 0.8 percent from a June average of 2,241 bpd; McArthur River averaged 3,948 bpd in July, up 8.5 percent from a June average of 3,639 bpd; and Middle Ground Shoal averaged 2,320 bpd in July, up 5.8 percent from a June average of 2,193 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.