Summer maintenance work on the North Slope continued to impact production rates in July, with production averaging 568,788 barrels per day, down 3.87 percent from a June average production level of 591,666 bpd.
Trans-Alaska oil pipeline operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. had a planned maintenance shutdown July 18-19. June production was impacted by the first Alyeska summer maintenance shutdown, June 20-21.
ANS production averaged more than 700,000 bpd most months from last September through May, dropping below that level only in April due to a weather-related reduction in tanker traffic out of the Valdez Marine Terminal which resulted in a requirement for reduced production.
The BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Endicott field — where the main work this summer is replacement of the production control system on the main production island — had no production from July 9 through July 30. Production averaged 3,055 bpd in July, down 78.4 percent from a June average of 14,141 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field had two days of zero production, July 19 and 20, overlapping the June scheduled shutdown of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Alpine production averaged 93,666 bpd in July, down 9.73 percent from a June average of 103,760 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field had a small month-over-month decline, averaging 143,608 bpd in July, down 0.74 percent from a June average of 144,674 bpd.
Other July-over-June production declines occurred at BP’s Milne Point field, which averaged 24,246 bpd in July, down 17.96 percent from a June average of 29,555 bpd, and at the BP-operated Northstar field, which averaged 21,757 bpd in July, down 7.34 percent from a June average of 23,481 bpd.
The BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field averaged 255,060 bpd in July, up 2.54 percent from a June average of 248,747 bpd, while production at Lisburne, also operated by BP, averaged 27,396 bpd in July, up 0.32 percent from a June average of 27,308 bpd.
Cook Inlet production averaged 3,212 bpd in July, up 6.96 percent from a June average of 3,003 bpd.
See story in Aug. 9 issue, available online at noon, Friday, Aug. 7 at www.PetroleumNews.com