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ANS production down 1.3% on maintenance Alyeska’s second planned summer shutdown of trans-Alaska oil pipeline slows production; BP moving Nabors E-33 rig off Northstar Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope oil production held almost level between June and July, dropping just 1.25 percent, from 547,212 barrels per day in June to 540,368 bpd in July, driven primarily by a scheduled maintenance shutdown of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline at the end of July.
Production volumes cited are from the Alaska Department of Revenue.
While production from all North Slope fields dropped at the end of the month when production was prorated for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.’s second scheduled maintenance of the summer, shutdowns for maintenance at the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Lisburne and Northstar fields were more extensive.
North Slope field maintenance is routinely scheduled around the summer maintenance shutdowns of the pipeline, but Lisburne went down for maintenance in early June, before the first Alyeska planned shutdown of the summer, and production didn’t come back at the field until July 18. Northstar went offline July 25 prior to the second pipeline shutdown and hadn’t come back online when this issue went to press Aug. 5.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart told Petroleum News in an Aug. 4 e-mail that as much work as possible is scheduled around trans-Alaska oil pipeline shutdowns to minimize impacts on production.
The situation at Northstar also involves moving the rig off the island, Rinehart said.
“To move the rig safely, working around pipes and other equipment, they needed to shut down the plant. Knowing that, they took advantage of the opportunity and are doing some turnaround maintenance,” Rinehart said.
He said he did not have an estimate for production to restart at Northstar.
In its latest Northstar plan of development, dated June 23, BP told regulators that it had completed an additional production well under the previous development plan for a current total of 21 producers, six injectors and two waste disposal wells. “Drilling activity was completed in May 2009,” the company said. (The rig, Nabors 33-E, has been stacked out at Northstar.)
The company said it would “continue to appraise other acreage and formations” within the Northstar unit, integrating information from recent development wells. The most recent production information from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, for May, shows 17 producing completions at Northstar.
Increased production at some fields The July-over-June percentage increase at Lisburne was the largest of any field, 70 percent, but was based on extensive downtime for maintenance. The field averaged only 3,770 barrels per day in June after going down for planned maintenance early in the month. While it had only partial-month production in July, it produced for more days than it had in June, averaging 6,412 bpd, hence the large percentage increase. In May, prior to the maintenance shutdown, the field averaged 27,677 bpd. Lisburne production includes Point McIntyre and Niakuk.
BP’s Milne Point field averaged 26,340 bpd in July, up 16 percent from a June average of 22,689. The field was at zero or reduced production for several days in June for scheduled maintenance at the time of the June maintenance shutdown of the trans-Alaska pipeline.
The other field which had increased month-over-month production was the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field, which averaged 90,552 bpd in July, up 10.8 percent from a June average of 81,732 bpd. Alpine had a 7.2 percent May-to-June production drop; the field was down for several days around the June maintenance shutdown of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Alpine includes production from three satellites — Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Northstar down 22 percent The largest June-to-July production drop was at the BP-operated Northstar field, which averaged 13,635 bpd in July, down 21.8 percent from a June average of 17,426 bpd.
The BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field averaged 252,809 bpd in July, down 6.6 percent from a June average of 270,696 bpd. During July Prudhoe production ranged from a low of 100,541 barrels on July 31, when production was prorated for the scheduled pipeline shutdown, to a high of 285,705 barrels on July 18. Prudhoe includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris.
Production from the BP-operated Endicott field averaged 13,399 bpd in July, down 1 percent from a June average of 13,542 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 137,221 bpd in July, down 0.1 percent from a June average of 137,357 bpd. Kuparuk includes production from Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, and from the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field. The most recent figures available for Oooguruk are AOGCC numbers for May, which show an average of almost 8,500 bpd.
The temperature at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope averaged 60.2 degrees Fahrenheit in July, compared to 40.2 F in July.
Cook Inlet production averaged 10,042 bpd in July, up 9.6 percent from a June average of 9,159 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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