December North Slope production up 1.6%

Month-over-month gain of almost 10,000 barrels per day led by Prudhoe Bay, Northstar, Kuparuk River; Alpine field has biggest drop

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

December crude oil production from Alaska’s North Slope averaged 641,518 barrels per day, up 1.58 percent from a November average of 631,537 bpd, a gain of 9,981 bpd.

Data from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division, which tracks oil production by major fields on a monthly basis, shows that the increase was led on a barrel-per-day basis by the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River fields, and on a percentage basis by Northstar.

The BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field averaged 334,929 bpd in December, up 2.54 percent, and 8,299 bpd, from a November average of 326,630 bpd. Prudhoe Bay includes production from satellites at Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris.

Production from the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 129,323 bpd in December, up 1.78 percent and 2,263 bpd, from a November average of 127,060 bpd. Kuparuk includes production from satellites at Meltwater, Palm, Tabasco and Tarn, as well as from the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.

Revenue’s Tax Division does not break out Oooguruk production, but the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission does. The most recent data available from the commission is for November, when Oooguruk averaged 8,942 bpd.

Northstar up 22 percent

The BP-operated Lisburne field, which includes production from Point McIntyre and Niakuk, averaged 32,045 bpd in December, up 0.65 percent from a November average of 31,837 bpd.

The BP-operated Endicott field had the steepest percentage drop, averaging 12,831 bpd in December, down 6.1 percent from a November average of 13,665 bpd. Endicott includes production from the Badami field. Badami, restarted by a partnership of Savant Alaska and ASRC Exploration on Nov. 5, averaged some 1,385 bpd in November according to AOGCC data.

The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field had the steepest per-barrel drop, averaging 86,646 bpd in December drop, down 3.68 percent and 3,306 bpd from a November average of 89,952 bpd. Alpine includes production from satellites at Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.

BP’s Milne Point field averaged 26,874 bpd in December, down 0.32 percent from a November average of 26,959 bpd.

The temperature at Pump Station 1 on the North Slope averaged minus 11.8 degrees Fahrenheit in December, compared to 15 degrees in November.

Cook Inlet production averaged 10,547 bpd in December, up 6.28 percent from a November average of 9,924 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.