ANS June production down 7% from May

Drop driven by field maintenance scheduled around first trans-Alaska oil pipeline maintenance shutdown of the summer, June 19-20

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 547,212 barrels per day in June, down 7 percent from a May average of 588,921 bpd.

Both numbers are below the Department of Revenue’s spring forecast of 650,000 bpd for fiscal year 2010, which ended June 30, and 619,000 bpd for fiscal year 2011, which began July 1.

The 2010 fiscal year average production, based on Revenue figures, was 641,393 bpd, 98.7 percent of the forecast amount.

April ANS production averaged 644,509 bpd, but a spill into a containment area at Pump Station 9 late in May resulted in five days of prorated production while the trans-Alaska oil pipeline was closed down and production went into storage tanks. The May production average reflected a drop of almost 9 percent from the April average.

The June drop in ANS production was driven by maintenance at North Slope fields scheduled around the first trans-Alaska oil pipeline shutdown of the summer, June 19-20.

During the shutdown Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the pipeline operator, completed various projects including rerouting the incoming Kuparuk pipeline connection at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope to a new aboveground line and disconnecting piping to an unused legacy pump house at Pump Station 4, where two large valves used to receive cleaning and in-line inspection pigs were also replaced. Alyeska said projects were also completed at Pump stations 5, 7 and 9, and at the Valdez Marine Terminal.

The North Slope producers schedule maintenance to coincide with Alyeska’s two summer maintenance shutdowns for the pipeline. Alyeska’s second summer maintenance shutdown is scheduled for July 31-Aug. 1

Largest percentage drop

BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said in an e-mail that Lisburne, which had no production starting June 7, is undergoing scheduled maintenance.

Another big drop was at the BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field, which averaged only 270,696 bpd in June, down from 288,130 bpd in May. Production peaked at 329,900 bpd June 3, dropped as low as 126,230 bpd June 20 during the first scheduled trans-Alaska oil pipeline shutdown of the summer, June 19-20, and ended the month at 231,354 bpd on June 30.

Prudhoe production includes satellites at Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris.

Rinehart didn’t provide details, but said in an e-mail that BP was in the midst of major scheduled summer maintenance and was working through a number of projects.

BP’s Milne Point field averaged 22,689 bpd in June, down 7.5 percent from a May average of 24,520 bpd.

The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field averaged 81,732 bpd in June, down 7.2 percent from a May average of 88,087 bpd. Alpine production includes production from several satellite fields including Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.

Levels up

The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 13,542 bpd in June, up 12.6 percent from a May average of 12,025 bpd.

The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 137,357 bpd in June, up 4.2 percent from a May average of 131,862 bpd. Kuparuk includes production from Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as from the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field. June production figures are not available for Oooguruk, but Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission figures for May production at Oooguruk show the field averaging almost 8,500 bpd, with the majority of that production from the Kuparuk formation.

The BP-operated Northstar field averaged 17,426 bpd in June, up 4.8 percent from a May average of 16,634 bpd.

The average temperature for June at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope was 40.2 degrees F, compared to 25 degrees F in May.

Cook Inlet production averaged 9,159 bpd in June, up 1.7 percent from a May average of 9,007 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.