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ANS production down 2.8% in July Planned maintenance by BP, ConocoPhillips at Prudhoe and Kuparuk production facilities on Alaska’s North Slope behind drops of 9.7 percent and 8.1 percent at major oil fields Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope production averaged 648,539 barrels per day in July, down 2.75 percent from a June average of 666,873 bpd.
The drop was led by the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field, which averaged 258,170 bpd in July, down 9.67 percent from a June average of 285,765 bpd.
“Summer is the major maintenance season,” BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Steve Rinehart told Petroleum News Aug. 4. He said that during July, BP “had two out of our seven main processing centers offline for maintenance for a good part of the month.” The facilities were Flow Station 3 and Gathering Center 3, which both had scheduled shutdowns for maintenance and inspection. Rinehart said both turnarounds were completed by the end of July.
Prudhoe Bay includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris. Production started the month below 200,000 bpd and ended the month at more than 299,000 bpd.
Kuparuk also down Planned work also impacted production at the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field.
“July production at Kuparuk was lower than June due to the planned shutdown of Central Processing Facilities 2 and 3,” ConocoPhillips Alaska spokeswoman Natalie Lowman told Petroleum News Aug. 5 in an e-mail.
Kuparuk production averaged 131,021 bpd in July, down 8.1 percent from a June average of 142,547 bpd.
Some planned maintenance was done at CPF-2 in late June, taking advantage of trans-Alaska oil pipeline downtime; that work was completed July 3, Lowman said.
A planned 45-day CPF-3 shutdown began July 17 “to inspect and repair key process vessels and tanks,” she said; the facility will be back up near the beginning of September. Kuparuk satellites included in the field’s production include Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak.
Kuparuk production as reported by the Alaska Department of Revenue also includes Pioneer Natural Resources’ Oooguruk field, which began production in early June at around 2,000-3,000 bpd. Pioneer is the first independent to have its own production on the North Slope.
Pioneer told Petroleum News in June that because Oooguruk production is processed through CFP-3, production would be suspended during the 45-day downtime at that facility.
Production at the BP-operated Northstar field averaged 34,243 bpd in July, down 3.9 percent from a June average of 35,641 bpd.
The drop at Prudhoe averaged almost 27,600 bpd from June to July, followed by a drop of almost 11,530 bpd at Kuparuk and some 1,400 bpd at Northstar.
Other fields up Other North Slope fields showed increased production in July compared to June. Average production was reduced in June due to a partial shutdown of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline June 28-29 for scheduled work.
The BP-operated Lisburne field, which had the largest month-to-month increase in production, 61 percent, was offline entirely in early June for planned maintenance. July production at the field averaged 35,371 bpd compared to 21,951 bpd in June.
Production at the BP-operated Endicott field averaged 45,210 bpd in July, up 11.1 percent from a June average of 40,682. Endicott production includes Eider and Sag Delta. Some 33,000 bpd of Prudhoe Bay Flow Station 2 crude oil is being shipped through the Endicott pipeline while BP works on new in-field lines at Prudhoe, work expected to be completed by the end of the year, and shows up as part of the Endicott total.
Greater Prudhoe Bay production — Prudhoe Bay, Lisburne and the 33,000 bpd from Flow Station 2 — averaged 326,541 bpd in July, down 4.2 percent from a June average of 340,716 bpd.
BP’s Milne Point field averaged 29,383 bpd in July, up 4 percent from a June average of 28,251. Milne Point includes Sag River and Schrader Bluff production.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 115,141 bpd in July, up 2.8 percent from a June average of 112,036 bpd.
The temperature at trans-Alaska oil pipeline Pump Station 1 on the North Slope averaged 50.7 degrees Fahrenheit in July, compared to an average of 45.4 F in June.
Cook Inlet crude oil production averaged 13,468 bpd in July, up 2.7 percent from a June average of 13,111 bpd.
ANS crude oil production peaked in 1988 at about 2 million barrels a day; Cook Inlet crude oil production peaked in 1970 at more than 227,000 bpd.
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