ANS production down on Valdez weather

North Slope production drops 3.7% from November due to late-December proration, six-hour closedown of trans-Alaska oil pipeline

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Alaska North Slope crude oil production for December averaged 729,948 barrels per day, down 3.7 percent from a November average of 758,099 bpd, the drop driven by weather delays in loading crude oil in Valdez at the end of December.

Daily averages dropped beginning Dec. 28 (from 382,985 bpd at Prudhoe Bay Dec. 27. to 345,157 bpd and from 157,779 bpd at Kuparuk Dec. 27 to 128,970 bpd), then dropped substantially Dec. 29 when Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. shut down the trans-Alaska oil pipeline for six hours beginning at about 8 p.m. because storage tanks at the Valdez Marine Terminal were nearly full. Tankers couldn’t be loaded because rough water in Valdez prevented deployment of boom around the tankers, a requirement for loading. Prudhoe production bottomed at 209,189 bpd Dec. 30, Kuparuk at 82,963 bpd.

The Alaska Department of Revenue described the production downturn as a trans-Alaska oil pipeline proration due to weather in Valdez from Dec. 27-Dec. 31.

Production was coming back up slowly, with an ANS rate of 598,607 bpd for Jan. 1, up from 413,610 bpd Dec. 30. ANS production began the month of December at 758,096 bpd and peaked at 780,492 bpd for the month on Dec. 5.

Valdez Marine Terminal inventories, which began the month at 3.7 million barrels, peaked at 6.8 million barrels Dec. 29. By Dec. 31 inventory had dropped to 6 million barrels. The average inventory for December was 4.9 million barrels, compared to an average of 3.8 million barrels for November.

The BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field had the largest per-barrel production drop from November to December, more than 10,000 bpd, averaging 361,262 bpd in December, down 2.9 percent from a November average of 372,078 bpd. Prudhoe production includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris.

The BP-operated Northstar field had the largest percentage drop, 10 percent, averaging 26,909 bpd in December compared to 29,884 bpd in November.

Endicott, also operated by BP, averaged 14,287 bpd in December, down 8.9 percent from a November average of 15,689 bpd.

Production at BP’s Milne Point field averaged 30,265 bpd in December, down 4.8 percent from a November average of 31,802 bpd. Milne Point production includes Schrader Bluff.

The BP-operated Lisburne field (including production from Point McIntyre and Niakuk) averaged 36,156 bpd in December, down 4.4 percent from a November average of 37,829 bpd.

The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field averaged 109,923 bpd in December, down 3.8 percent from a November average of 114,255 bpd. Alpine production includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.

Production at the ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 151,146 bpd in December, down 3.5 percent from a November average of 156,562 bpd. Kuparuk includes satellite production from Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as from the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska Oooguruk field. The latest production figures breaking out Oooguruk, from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, are for November and show an average of 5,643 bpd from that field.

The temperature for December at Pump Station No. 1 on the North Slope averaged minus 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to 5 degrees F for November.

Cook Inlet crude oil production averaged 12,771 bpd in December, down 1 percent from a November average of 12,903 bpd.