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ANS August production down 15% from July Drop driven by two weeks of planned maintenance at Alpine field, two-day planned partial shutdown of trans-Alaska oil pipeline Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 552,114 barrels per day in August, down 14.9 percent from a July average of 648,539 bpd, a drop primarily attributable to planned shutdowns at Alpine and on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
More than half of the decline was due to the annual turnaround at the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated western North Slope Alpine field. ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Natalie Lowman told Petroleum News in August that the field would be offline for approximately two weeks for planned maintenance, overlapping the trans-Alaska oil pipeline shutdown.
Lowman said in a Sept. 3 e-mail that the critical path for the maintenance was an overhaul of the two main turbines at Alpine. “We also did inspection of two gas train vessels and general maintenance on all the equipment that is normally running,” she said. Since Alpine is a single-train plant, all of the equipment was shut down during the maintenance.
Alpine was averaging some 117,000 bpd early in August; production dropped below 60,000 bpd Aug. 9 and below 25,000 bpd Aug. 10. There was no production from Alpine Aug. 11-21. Production began to ramp back up slowly and the field averaged more than 100,000 bpd from Aug. 24 through the end of the month.
August production at Alpine averaged only 61,227 bpd, compared to 115,141 bpd in July.
Pipeline had second shutdown Production was also impacted across the North Slope by the second major maintenance shutdown of the summer of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.
The Aug. 16-17 shutdown included two major tasks: installation of some 1,700 feet of new 48-inch mainline pipe at Pump Station 2 and replacement of a pig trap value at the Valdez Marine Terminal. Alyeska said on its Web site that the shutdown lasted some 35 hours and that more than 350 employees worked at various locations completing nearly 40 additional work tasks.
Alyeska said in an Aug. 15 release that the new pipe at Pump Station 2, some 60 miles south of Prudhoe Bay, bypasses the pump station, which has been out of service since 1997. The replacement value at the marine terminal is on the pig receiver, a pipe section used to receive cleaning and instrument pigs, mechanical devices used for routine cleaning or diagnostics on the pipeline.
Multiple jobs along the pipeline were completed during the summer’s first shutdown, June 28-29. At Pump Station 9 crews disconnected piping used to operate the original pumping equipment. Pump Station 9 began operating newer, upgraded pumps in February 2007. Also in June, Remote Gate Valve 72, just outside of Fairbanks, was replaced on the mainline pipe. The gate value is one of 177 48-inch mainline valves along the pipeline.
Lisburne down at end of month The BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Lisburne facility, which processes production from the Lisburne, Point McIntyre and Niakuk fields, had reduced production around the trans-Alaska pipeline shutdown, but also was shut in at the end of August.
Lisburne should be back up in a few days, BP spokesman Steve Rinehart told Petroleum News in a Sept. 2 e-mail. He said a valve is being changed out on a major Lisburne inlet line. It’s a routine job, he said, although it is taking a little longer than expected.
Lisburne August production averaged 23,035 bpd, down 34.9 percent from a July average of 35,371 bpd.
The BP-operated Northstar field averaged 31,241 bpd in August, down 8.8 percent from a July average of 34,243 bpd, with projection dropping significantly during the trans-Alaska pipeline shutdown in mid-August.
BP-operated Prudhoe Bay averaged 237,951 bpd in August, down 7.8 percent from a July average of 258,170 bpd. Production began dropping in mid-August, coinciding with the planned pipeline shutdown, and did not achieve early-August levels of more than 250,000 bpd until Aug. 25. Prudhoe Bay production includes western satellites Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris. Greater Prudhoe Bay, including Lisburne and some 33,000 bpd of Flow Station 2 crude currently flowing through the Endicott line, averaged 293,986 bpd in August, down 10 percent from a July average of 326,541 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 121,331 bpd in August, down 7.4 percent from a July average of 131,021 bpd. Kuparuk includes satellite production from Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater, West Sak and Pioneer Natural Resources’ Oooguruk field.
Kuparuk production slowed during the mid-month trans-Alaska oil pipeline shutdown.
Lowman said Sept. 3 that 45 days of scheduled maintenance at Kuparuk’s Central Processing Facility 3, which began July 17, “is not complete but we expect to be back up and running at mid-month.”
Oooguruk is processed through CPF-3. Production began in early June at 2,000-3,000 bpd, and has been suspended during CPF-3 maintenance.
Milne, Endicott up BP’s Milne Point field averaged 31,276 bpd in August, up 6.4 percent from a July average of 29,383 bpd. Production includes Sag River and Schrader Bluff.
The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 46,053 bpd in August, up 1.9 percent from a July average of 45,210 bpd. The Alaska Department of Revenue’s Endicott-reported volume currently includes some 33,000 bpd of Prudhoe Bay Flow Station 2 oil which is being moved through the Endicott pipeline.
The temperature at Pump Station 1 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline on the North Slope averaged 43.1 degrees Fahrenheit, down from a July average of 50.7 degrees F.
Cook Inlet crude oil production averaged 13,282 bpd in August, down 1.4 percent from a July average of 13,468 bpd.
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