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ANS production up 8 percent year-over-year September average 512,095 bpd, up 9% from August, led by Prudhoe at 24%; Cook Inlet at 14,694 bpd for August, up 11% from July Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 512,095 barrels per day in September, up 9 percent (42,692 bpd) from an August average of 469,403 bpd and up 7.9 percent from a September 2016 average of 474,810 bpd.
The month-over-month increase came entirely from the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field, the North Slope’s largest, which averaged 281,183 bpd in September, up 24.1 percent, 54,575 bpd, from an August average of 226,608 bpd, and up 8.7 percent from a September 2016 average of 258,806 bpd.
Prudhoe Bay volumes include satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion, Polaris, Sag River, Schrader Bluff and Ugnu, as well as from the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Milne Point and Northstar fields.
September information comes from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division which consolidates North Slope oil production by major facilities rather than reporting individual fields, providing daily production and monthly averages. More detailed data, including Cook Inlet and individual North Slope fields and pools, is reported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on a month-delay basis.
AOGCC data show that Milne Point averaged 20,294 bpd in August, basically the same as 20,296 bpd in July, while Northstar averaged 6,583 bpd in August, down 5 percent, 346 bpd, from a July average of 6,929 bpd.
Drop at other North Slope facilities All other North Slope facilities, as reported by the Tax Division, showed month-over-month production declines.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field, the North Slope’s second largest, averaged 135,517 bpd in September, down 2.3 percent, 3,121 bpd, from an August average of 138,638, and down 2.4 percent from a September 2016 average of 138,860 bpd.
Kuparuk volumes include Meltwater, Tabasco, Tarn and West Sak, as well as the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Caelus Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
AOGCC data show Nikaitchuq averaged 20,391 bpd in August, down 3.4 percent, 711 bpd, from a July average of 21,102 bpd. Oooguruk averaged 11,948 bpd in August, up 21.5 percent, 2,117 bpd, from a July average of 9,831 bpd.
Hilcorp Alaska-operated Endicott averaged 8,088 bpd in September, down 42.5 percent, 5,979 bpd, from an August average of 14,067 bpd, and down 5.1 percent from a September 2016 average of 8,521 bpd.
Endicott includes satellite production from Eider, Minke and Sag Delta, as well as production from Badami, operated by Glacier Oil & Gas subsidiary Savant Alaska and production from the ExxonMobil Production-operated Point Thomson field.
The division said that beginning Oct. 1, volumes currently shown under Endicott will be reported as part of Prudhoe Bay, making it more difficult to estimate Point Thomson volumes on a current-month basis. AOGCC, however, does report Point Thomson on a month-delay basis.
AOGCC data shows Badami production at 855 bpd in August, down 1.4 percent, 12 bpd, from a July average of 867 bpd. Point Thomson volumes for August were 6,814 bpd, up 292 percent, 5,076 bpd, from a July average of 1,739 bpd. Endicott volumes shown by the Tax Division for September would appear to indicate that Point Thomson was producing at anywhere near capacity only a few days out of the month, Sept. 4-5 and Sept. 24-29, the only days in the month when Endicott volumes were at more than 10,000 bpd.
Volumes from BP-operated Lisburne, part of greater Prudhoe Bay, averaged 23,186 bpd in September, down 0.6 percent, 143 bpd, from an August average of 23,329 bpd, but up 266 percent from a September 2016 average of 6,342 bpd. Lisburne volumes include Niakuk, Point McIntyre and Raven.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 64,121 bpd in September, down 4 percent from an August average of 66,761 bpd, a drop of 2,640 bpd, but up 3 percent from a September 2016 average of 62,281 bpd.
Alpine volumes include satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Cook Inlet AOGCC data show Cook Inlet crude oil production averaged 14,694 bpd in August, down 3.2 percent from a July average of 15,173.
Hilcorp Alaska’s Beaver Creek field averaged 171 bpd, down 2.1 percent from a July average of 175 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Granite Point averaged 2,322 bpd, down 0.9 percent from a July average of 2,343 bpd.
BlueCrest Energy’s Hansen field, the Cosmopolitan project, averaged 344 bpd in August, up 24.8 percent from a July average of 275 bpd.
Hilcorp’s McArthur River, Cook Inlet’s largest, averaged 5,056 bpd, up 1.5 percent from a July average of 4,981 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Middle Ground Shoal field only came back online in mid-September (see story in Oct. 1 issue of Petroleum News), so production volumes from that field will not be available until next month.
Redoubt Shoal, operated by Glacier Oil & Gas subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy, averaged 1,759 bpd in August, down 11.1 percent form a July average of 1,980 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Swanson River field averaged 1,795 bpd in August, down 8.1 percent from a July average of 1,953 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Trading Bay averaged 2,001 bpd, down 4.2 percent from a July average of 2,089 bpd.
Glacier’s West McArthur River field averaged 1,246 bpd in August, down 9.6 percent from a July average of 1,378 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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