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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
May 2006

Vol. 11, No. 19 Week of May 07, 2006

ANS oil production bounces back in April

North Slope crude averages 824,357 bpd in April, up 7.3 % from March, as BP reroutes Prudhoe Bay crude around corroded line

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Alaska North Slope crude oil production bounced back in April after the steep drop in March following a Prudhoe Bay Gathering Center 2 oil spill, discovered March 2, which shut in some 100,000 barrels per day.

The Department of Revenue said that beginning April 4 Prudhoe Bay operator BP Exploration (Alaska) partially restored flow by diverting shut-in oil from the corroded pipeline to an adjacent feeder pipeline.

ANS production averaged 824,357 bpd in April, up 7.3 percent from a March average of only 768,498 bpd, which was a 9 percent drop from a February average of 846,127 bpd.

On a daily basis, ANS production was at 743,376 bpd April 1, climbed above the 800,000 bpd mark April 7 and had several days of production of 850,000 bpd by the end of the month.

Prudhoe Bay production averaged 374,855 bpd in April, up 17.7 percent from a March average of 318,515, but still down from a February average of 400,383 bpd. The March figure was down 20.5 percent from February. Prudhoe Bay had April 1 production of 303,727 bpd, had daily production of more than 400,000 bpd twice during the month and was at 399,307 bpd April 30.

Prudhoe Bay production includes the Midnight Sun, Aurora, Polaris, Borealis and Orion satellite fields.

Lisburne down 21%

BP-operated Lisburne (which includes Point McIntyre and Niakuk) averaged 29,801 bpd in April, down 21.2 percent from a March average of 37,834. Revenue said the 24-inch line between Lisburne and Point McIntyre was shut in April 13 due to corrosion and the Lisburne Production Center was on reduced rates of 20,000 bpd, and was sending volumes through a 14-inch line.

The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field averaged production of 125,548 bpd in April, down 0.9 percent from a March average of 126,665. Revenue said volumes were cut temporarily at Alpine April 8 to clean the shipping pump. Production dropped to 107,501 barrels that day; production was 129,124 barrels April 1 and 128,077 barrels April 30.

BP’s Milne Point field had slightly reduced production, averaging 41,628 bpd in April, down 0.03 percent from a March average of 41,640 bpd. Revenue said the field had a gas turbine failure April 1. Production dropped to 33,902 barrels that day.

Northstar up 8%

BP’s Northstar field averaged 56,729 bpd in April, up 8 percent from a March average of 52,527 bpd. Revenue said there was a complete plant shutdown at Northstar April 20 due to emission testing with a production loss of about 14,000 barrels. Production was 48,578 on that day; other than an April 1 production of 49,299 barrels, production from the field was in the 50,000-plus barrel-per-day range through the middle of the month and then, except for April 20, production was above the 60,000 bpd mark for the remainder of the month.

The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field (which includes West Sak, Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and Palm) averaged 176,065 bpd in April, up 2.5 percent from a March average of 171,786 bpd.

The BP-operated Endicott field (which includes Sag Delta, Eider and Badami) averaged 19,731 bpd in April, up 1 percent from a March average of 19,531 bpd.

The temperature at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope averaged 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit in April, compared to a three-year average of 3 degrees F for the month.

Cook Inlet production averaged 17,147 bpd in April, down 1.1 percent from a March average of 17,341 bpd.






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