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January ANS crude down 1 percent from December Fields reported under Kuparuk hold flat, all other Tax Division North Slope groupings down; December Cook Inlet down from November Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 542,410 barrels per day in January, down 1 percent, 5,277 bpd, from a December average of 547,687 bpd.
Fields reported under the Kuparuk umbrella held steady, up less than 1 percent from December, averaging 147,219 bpd in January, an increase of just 140 bpd from 147,079 bpd. Kuparuk volumes include satellite production from Meltwater, Tabasco, Tarn and West Sak, all operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska, as well as volumes from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Caelus Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
January 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, by individual fields and pools for Cook Inlet and the North Slope, comes from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on a month-delay basis.
AOGCC data for December show Nikaitchuq averaged 19,348 bpd, up 1.7 percent, 331 bpd, from a November average of 19,018 bpd. Oooguruk averaged 13,651 bpd in December, up 4.87 percent, 331 bpd, from a November average of 13,017 bpd. Prudhoe umbrella volumes down Volumes shown by the Tax Division for the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field include satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion, Polaris, Schrader Bluff and Sag River, as well as volumes from fields operated by Hilcorp Alaska — Endicott (including Eider, Minke and Sag Delta), Milne Point and Northstar, the ExxonMobil-operated Point Thomson field and Badami, operated by Glacier Oil and Gas subsidiary Savant Alaska.
The combined Prudhoe volumes (from the Tax Division) for January total 305,743 bpd, down 0.7 percent, 2,035 bpd, from a December average of 307,778 bpd.
The Tax Division reports Lisburne — part of Greater Prudhoe Bay — separately, including Niakuk and Point McIntyre, with production averaging 23,117 bpd in January, down 7.2 percent, 1,785 bpd from a December average of 24,902 bpd.
AOGCC data show the Prudhoe Bay field by itself averaged 239,188 bpd in December, down 1.1 percent, 2,645 bpd, from a November average of 241,833 bpd. Those numbers include Lisburne, Niakuk and Point McIntyre, which collectively in December accounted for almost 30,000 bpd.
Badami averaged 735 bpd in December, based on AOGCC data, down 5.5 percent, 43 bpd, from a November average of 778 bpd.
AOGCC data for Endicott show that field averaged 6,719 bpd in December, down 3.4 percent, 236 bpd, from a November average of 6,955 bpd.
Milne Point averaged 19,654 bpd in December, up 9.8 percent, 1,748 bpd, from a November average of 17,907 bpd, while Northstar averaged 8,681 bpd in December, up 4.5 percent, 375 bpd, from a November average of 8,306 bpd.
AOGCC data for Point Thomson show that field averaged 5,324 bpd in December, down 44.4 percent, 4,251 bpd, from a November average of 9,575 bpd. The big difference between the months is days of operation. Point Thomson has one producing well: In November that well produced for 30 days (total oil for the month was 287,261 barrels); in December, however, that one well was only producing for 18 days (a total of 165,047 barrels for the month). Production was 9,169 bpd for those 18 days but dropped to 5,324 bpd when averaged over the entire month, which is how barrels are reported. Cook Inlet AOGCC data show Cook Inlet production averaged 15,769 bpd in December, down 2.7 percent, 429 bpd, from a November average of 485,930 bpd.
Of nine oil fields in the inlet, six had month-over-month production declines.
Hilcorp Alaska’s Beaver Creek averaged 67 bpd in December, down 46 percent, 56 bpd, from a November average of 123 bpd.
Granite Point, also operated by Hilcorp, averaged 3,196 bpd in December, up 0.2 percent, 8 bpd, from a November average of 3,189 bpd.
BlueCrest’s Hansen field, the Cosmopolitan project, averaged 32 bpd, down 88 percent, 237 bpd, from a November average of 269 bpd.
Hilcorp’s McArthur River field, Cook Inlet’s largest, averaged 5,315 bpd in December, down 1.2 percent, 65 bpd, from a December average of 5,380 bpd.
Middle Ground Shoal, also operated by Hilcorp, averaged 1,574 bpd in December, up 0.4 percent, 7 bpd, from a November average of 1,568 bpd.
Glacier Oil and Gas’ Redoubt Shoal field averaged 1,011 bpd in December, up 22.2 percent, 184 bpd, from a November average of 827 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Swanson River field averaged 1,683 bpd in December, down 3 percent, 52 bpd, from a November average of 1,735 bpd.
Trading Bay, also operated by Hilcorp, averaged 1,864 bpd in December, down 3.3 percent, 64 bpd, from a November average of 1,929 bpd.
Glacier’s West McArthur River field averaged 1,027 bpd, down 12.8 percent, 150 bpd, from a November average of 1,178 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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