No Arctic drilling for Shell this year

The Minerals Management Service approved the development and production plan for the BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. Northstar project on Sept. 3. The approval covers the federal portion of the joint state-federal project, and is the first development plan approved for the federal outer continental shelf offshore Alaska. Up to seven wells will be drilled from the Northstar Island into two OCS leases. Production facilities and offshore pipeline will be on state of Alaska submerged lands.

Alaska North Slope production averaged 1.03 million barrels a day in August, up 2.7 percent from a July average of 1.005 million barrels a day, but still averaging 34,000 barrels per day below the state’s last April production estimate. The Alaska Department of Revenue Division of Oil and Gas Audit said Aug. 30 that tanker delays, maintenance on the Valdez storage facility and West Coast refinery shut-ins have required numerous producer prorations over the past couple of months. Prudhoe Bay production averaged 553,947 barrels a day in August, up 6.1 percent from July’s average of 522,203 barrels a day. Milne Point production averaged 55,860 barrels a day in August, up 1.33 percent from a July average of 55,126 barrels a day. Lisburne production averaged 128,522 barrels a day in August, up 1.3 percent from a July average of 126,854 barrels a day. August production at Endicott averaged 46,816 barrels a day, down 5.9 percent from an average 47,767 barrels a day in July. Kuparuk River production averaged 246,759 barrels a day in August, down 1.7 percent from a July average of 251,139 barrels a day. Cook Inlet production averaged 28,258 barrels a day in August, down 0.6 percent for a July average of 28,433 barrels a day.