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ANS crude oil production down 2.7% in May Prudhoe Bay down 5%; Cook Inlet production for April about level with March; Hilcorp’s Trading Bay up 11% month-over-month Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 541,001 barrels per day in May, down 2.7 percent, 14,986 bpd, from an April average of 555,987 bpd. The biggest drop, in both percent and barrels, was at the Slope’s largest field, BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay, which averaged 300,330 bpd in May, down 4.96 percent, 15,672 bpd, from an April average of 316,002 bpd.
Prudhoe Bay production includes satellite production at Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris, as well as production from the Milne Point and Northstar fields. BP is in the process of selling its interest in several smaller North Slope fields, including Northstar and half of its interest in Milne Point, to Hilcorp Alaska, with the sale expected to close at the end of the year.
Information for May comes from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division which reports North Slope oil production consolidated by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages. More detailed data, including Cook Inlet and individual North Slope fields and pools, is reported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on a month-delay basis.
April data from AOGCC shows average production at Milne Point of 19,578 bpd, down 2.84 percent from a March average of 20,151 bpd, and Northstar production at 8,687 bpd, down 17.26 percent from a March average of 10,499 bpd.
Kuparuk down marginally Production from the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 149,092 bpd in May, down 0.24 percent, 357 bpd, from an April average of 149,449 bpd.
Kuparuk production includes satellite production from Meltwater, Northeast West Sak, Tabasco, Tarn and West Sak, as well as production from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Caelus Energy Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
AOGCC data for April shows Nikaitchuq averaged 21,069 bpd, up 6.77 percent, 1,336 bpd, from a March average of 19,733 bpd, while Oooguruk averaged 15,587 bpd, up 112.27 percent, 8,244 bpd, from a March average of 7,343 bpd.
Casey Sullivan, spokesman for Oooguruk operator Caelus Energy Alaska, confirmed in a June 4 email that the company saw “a favorable boost in our production this spring.” He thought the number Petroleum News calculated from AOGCC data was “a bit high” but said it was “in the ballpark.”
“The bump in production is the result of a successful winter season where we placed large mechanical diversion hydraulic fractures on four Nuiqsut wells,” Sullivan said. “Each of those wells was treated with approximately 2 million pounds of proppant, which represents some of the larger stimulations on the North Slope.”
He said Caelus is pleased with the initial production rates from the wells, which “are currently choked back to ensure proper reservoir management.”
Alpine up 1% The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 54,387 bpd in May, up 0.98 percent, 530 bpd, from an April average of 53,857 bpd. Alpine includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
The BP-operated Lisburne field averaged 27,744 bpd in May, down 2.1 percent, 608 bpd, from an April average of 28,352 bpd. Lisburne production includes Niakuk, Point McIntyre and Raven.
Endicott, also operated by BP - although it is among the fields which will be operated by Hilcorp once the sale of BP’s share in the field is finalized - averaged 9,448 bpd in May, up 13.46 percent, 1,121 bpd, from an April average of 8,327 bpd. Endicott includes production from Eider, Minke and Sag Delta, as well as from the Savant Alaska-operated Badami field, which is in the process of being sold to Miller Energy Resources, the owner of Cook Inlet Energy. AOGCC data for April shows Badami averaged 1,089 bpd in that month, up 3.58 percent, 38 bpd, from a March average of 1,051 bpd.
Cook Inlet flat AOGCC data for April shows Cook Inlet production basically flat, averaging 16,271 bpd, up 0.29 percent from a March average of 16,223 bpd.
The smallest field, Hilcorp Alaska-operated Beaver Creek, had the largest percentage month-over-month drop, averaging 104 bpd, down 20.98 percent, 28 bpd, from a March average of 131 bpd.
Another Hilcorp-operated field, Trading Bay, had the largest increase, up 11.26 percent to 2,926 bpd in April, a 296 bpd increase over a March average of 2,630 bpd.
Other fields with month-over-month increases include Cook Inlet Energy’s Redoubt Shoal field, up 2.72 percent to 1,305 bpd in April, a 35 bpd increase over a March average of 1,270 bpd; the Hilcorp-operated Granite Point, which averaged 2,739 bpd in April, up 1.94 percent, 52 bpd, from a March average of 2,687 bpd; and Hilcorp’s Swanson River field, which averaged 2,275 bpd in April, up 0.12 percent, 3 bpd, from a March average of 2,272 bpd.
Other fields with month-over-month decreases include: the Hilcorp-operated McArthur River field, which averaged 4,057 bpd in April, down 6.3 percent, 273 bpd, from a March average of 4,330 bpd; Middle Ground Shoal, operated by ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO, which averaged 2,036 bpd in April, down 1.63 percent, 34 bpd, from a March average of 2,069 bpd; and the Cook Inlet Energy-operated West McArthur River field, which averaged 829 bpd in April, down 0.49 percent, 4 bpd, from a March average of 833 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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