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North Slope production down 4.7% in May Drop led by Lisburne, down 19%, Prudhoe Bay down 7.5%; production drops below 600,000 bpd on more than a dozen days during month Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 604,508 barrels per day in May, down 4.66 percent from an April average of 634,028 bpd. And on more than a dozen days during the month, beginning May 13 and including May 31, production dropped below the 600,000-bpd mark.
While the largest percentage drop in May, 19.1 percent, came from the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Lisburne field, part of greater Prudhoe Bay, the largest per-barrel drop was at the BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field itself, down 24,896 bpd or 7.54 percent from April.
Except where noted, volumes are from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division, which tracks oil production by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages.
Lisburne, which includes production from Point McIntyre and Niakuk, averaged 26,342 bpd in May, down from 32,570 bpd in April, a decline of 6,228 bpd. Production at the field began the month above at 32,000 bpd, then dropped below 30,000 bpd on May 14, bottoming out at just above 20,000 May 25 before beginning a gradual rise to 22,708 barrels on May 31.
Prudhoe Bay averaged 305,175 bpd in May, down from 330,071 bpd in April. While Prudhoe started the month at 322,536 barrels, it dipped below 300,000 bpd a dozen days in May. Prudhoe production includes western satellite fields — Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris.
The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 12,472 bpd in May, down 4 percent from an April average of 13,001 bpd. Endicott includes production from the Badami field on the eastern side of the North Slope. Figures from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which reports monthly totals field by field, show total Badami production for April (the most recent AOGCC data available) at 39,463, an average of some 1,316 bpd.
BP’s Milne Point field averaged 24,274 bpd in May, down 3.93 percent from an April average of 25,268 bpd. Milne production includes viscous oil from the Schrader Bluff accumulation.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field averaged 80,692 bpd in May, down 2 percent from an April average of 82,401 bpd. Alpine production includes satellites at Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
The BP-operated Northstar field averaged 15,504 bpd in May, down 0.1 percent from an April average of 15,525 bpd.
Kuparuk production up in May The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field had the only May-over-April North Slope production increase, averaging 140,049 bpd in May, up 3.6 percent, 4,857 bpd, from an April average of 135,192 bpd. Kuparuk production includes satellites at Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak viscous oil, as well as production from the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field and the Eni Petroleum-operated Nikaitchuq field.
AOGCC figures for April show total production from Nikaitchuq (Schrader Bluff formation) at 151,850, some 5,061 bpd, and April production from Oooguruk (Kuparuk, Nuiqsut and Torok formations) at 243,463, some 8,116 bpd.
By comparison, AOGCC figures for Kuparuk production for April total 3,686,777 barrels, some 122,893 bpd.
The average temperature for May at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope was 27 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to 2.2 degrees F in April.
Cook Inlet production averaged 10,839 bpd in May, up 31.2 percent from an average of 8,261 bpd in April.
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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