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Cook Inlet oil production down 50%-plus Inlet oil production coming only from east side; North Slope down 9.7% March to April due to maintenance, proration, temperatures Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production dropped 9.7 percent from March to April, a difference of almost 72,000 barrels per day, driven by a 14.8 percent drop in Prudhoe Bay production, 320,120 bpd on average compared to 375,745 bpd in March.
The drop at Lisburne was proportionately greater — 30.8 percent — although far fewer barrels, from an average of 33,849 bpd in March down to 23,421 bpd in April.
BP Exploration (Alaska) operates both the fields.
Prudhoe Bay production includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris; Lisburne includes production from Point McIntyre and Niakuk.
North Slope production averaged 670,030 bpd in April, down from a May average of 742,001.
BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Steve Rinehart told Petroleum News that there was proration on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline early in April that affected Prudhoe Bay production.
Proration — producers being asked to cut back on the volume of oil they deliver to the line — occurs when the pipeline is tight on storage space at the terminus of the line at the Valdez Marine Terminal or when maintenance is occurring on the pipeline.
Michelle Egan, spokeswoman for pipeline owner, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., said in an e-mail that the proration in early April was related to the tanker schedule.
Rinehart also said there was “a couple of week’s worth of preventative maintenance” on a section of gas line between Gathering Center 1 and Gathering Center 2 which provides gas lift to some wells in the western operating area.
“That line was put back in service about April 25.”
He also said there was maintenance at Lisburne during April.
The temperature was also a factor, averaging 6.9 degrees Fahrenheit at Pump Station No. 1 in April compared to minus 17.6 degrees F in March. Gas compressors operate less efficiently at warmer temperatures, and North Slope production requires compressing and reinjecting large volumes of natural gas produced with the oil.
Big dip in Cook Inlet The percentage drop in both North Slope cases was dwarfed by that for the state’s smallest producing area, Cook Inlet, down at least 53 percent, although the drop may be steeper when the state gets final April production figures later in May.
Because the Drift River Terminal has been shut down due to eruptions at Mount Redoubt, oil production from the western side of Cook Inlet has been shut in. The oil from west-side production moves by pipeline to the Drift River Terminal for tanker shipment to the Tesoro refinery on the Kenai Peninsula and there are no alternative methods in place for moving that oil.
Cook Inlet started the month at 11,634 bpd, but on April 5 it dropped to an estimated 4,134 bpd, for an average of 5,134 bpd for the month.
Oil fields remaining in production are two onshore fields on the Kenai Peninsula, Marathon-operated Beaver Creek and Chevron-operated Swanson River, and the only offshore field which pipes oil directly to the Kenai Peninsula, XTO Energy’s Middle Ground Shoal.
Based on Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission figures for March, the most current the commission is reporting, Middle Ground Shoal produced a total of 85,793 barrels in March; Beaver Creek produced 5,034; and Swanson River produced 12,615. That’s an average of some 3,300 bpd for March.
Most North Slope production down In addition to Prudhoe Bay and Lisburne, April production dropped from May levels at all North Slope fields except BP’s Milne Point, which averaged 29,990 bpd in April, up 0.7 percent from a March average of 29,784 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 149,358 bpd in April, down 2.8 percent from a March average of 153,655 bpd. Kuparuk includes production from satellite fields at Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as production from Pioneer Natural Resources’ Oooguruk field.
The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 12,618 bpd, down 2.7 percent from a March average of 12,970 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 110,554 bpd in April, down 1.2 percent from a March average of 111,900 bpd. Alpine production includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
The BP-operated Northstar field averaged 23,969 bpd, down 0.5 percent from a March average of 24,098 bpd.
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