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Pioneer Natural Resources production down Company expects uptick in second and third quarter as Torok wells come online; 5,000 bpd in first quarter a reduction from 2010 Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
Pioneer Natural Resources produced 5,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in Alaska in the first quarter of the year, a reduction caused by “unplanned third party downtime.”
The Texas independent expects Alaska production to rise in the second and third quarters of the year, though, as a new horizon at its Oooguruk unit starts sustained production.
Pioneer produced 6,000 net boe per day in the first quarter of 2010.
During the first quarter of this year, Pioneer drilled its second test well in the Torok formation of the Moraine horizon, the third horizon after the Nuiqsut and the Kuparuk.
Pioneer expects a 1,000-barrel per day bump in net production from those wells.
Pioneer recently completed a 60-day recompletion program at Oooguruk, but is also planning maintenance on three producing wells during the second quarter of the year.
Following that work, Pioneer plans to drill additional wells into the Kuparuk and Nuiqsut horizons later in the year. This coming winter, Pioneer plans to drill an onshore well to test a deeper fourth horizon, unnamed by company executives at a recent conference call.
Pioneer is permitting its Nuna project, an onshore venture near the Oooguruk gravel island, but that venture is targeting oil in the relatively shallow Torok formation.
Spraberry leads spending Pioneer plans to spend $115 million on drilling in Alaska this year as part of a $1.6 billion program. The vast majority of that spending, $1.1 billion, will go toward the Spraberry trend in the Permian basin of West Texas, where Pioneer is currently running 32 rigs with plans to ramp up to 45 rigs by early 2012. Pioneer also plans to spend $170 million in the Barnett Shale and $110 million in the Eagle Ford Shale, both in Texas.
Pioneer continues to benefit from exploration incentives in Alaska, collecting $27 million before taxes in Petroleum Production Tax credits during the first quarter of the year.
Companywide, Pioneer earned $349 million in net income during the first quarter of the year, up from $260 million earned during the same period last year.
The company produced some 111,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the quarter, up slightly from around 109,000 boe per day during the same period last year.
By product, Pioneer produced some 34,000 bpd of oil, 18,600 bpd of natural gas liquids and 348 million cubic feet per day of natural gas during the first quarter of the year.
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