|
October production up 11% from September North Slope averaged 525,033 bpd, up from 474,810; September Cook Inlet crude averaged 15,291 bpd, down 3.1% from August KRISTEN NELSON Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope production averaged 525,033 barrels per day in October, up 10.6 percent, 50,223 bpd, from a September average of 474,810 bpd, driven by increases from all reporting areas except Alpine.
The largest month-over-month increase was at BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Lisburne, which averaged 22,295 bpd, up 252 percent, 15,953 bpd, from a September average of 6,342 bpd. Lisburne volumes include Point McIntyre, Niakuk and Raven. October was the first month since July when there has been production every day from Lisburne, which went down for scheduled maintenance near the end of August and showed no production Aug. 27 through Sept. 19, with production trailing off in August and beginning to build back up Sept. 20.
Information for October comes from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division which reports North Slope oil production consolidated by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages. More detailed data, including Cook Inlet and individual North Slope fields and pools, is reported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on a month-delay basis.
Prudhoe up 11% BP-operated Prudhoe Bay, the North Slope’s largest field, had the largest per-barrel month-over-month increase, averaging 287,483 bpd in October, up 28,677 bpd, 11.1 percent, from a September average of 258,806 bpd. Prudhoe production includes the initial participating areas at the field and satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion, Polaris, Sag River, Schrader Bluff and Ugnu, as well as from the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Milne Point and Northstar fields.
AOGCC data for Milne Point show that field averaged 19,593 bpd in September, up marginally from August production of 19,587 bpd, while Northstar averaged 5,409 bpd in September, down 4 percent from an August average of 5,631 bpd.
Hilcorp Alaska-operated Endicott averaged 10,592 bpd in October, up 24.3 percent, 2,071 bpd, from a September average of 8,251. Endicott production includes Eider, Minke and Sag Delta, as well as volumes from the Badami field, operated by Glacier Oil and Gas subsidiary Savant Alaska, and the ExxonMobil-operated Point Thomson field.
AOGCC data for September show Badami averaged 911 bpd, down 7.2 percent from an August average of 981 bpd, while Point Thomson averaged 31 bpd, down 97.5 percent from an August average of 1,230 bpd.
ExxonMobil said in late October that commissioning of the Point Thomson gas compression system continues. While Revenue does not break out Point Thomson volumes, fluctuation in Endicott daily numbers for October - which reached as high as 15,495 barrels Oct. 25 - would appear to indicate that Point Thomson condensate volumes are being produced on an increasingly regular basis, accounting for the month-over-month increase at Endicott. October Point Thomson volumes will be available from AOGCC in about a month, and based on daily fluctuations for Endicott are expected to be higher than volumes for September.
ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Alaska operates two fields on the North Slope, Kuparuk River and Alpine.
Kuparuk averaged 143,528 bpd in October, up 3.4 percent, 4,668 bpd, from a September average of 138,860 bpd. Kuparuk includes satellite production from Meltwater, Tabasco, Tarn and West Sak, as well as production from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Caelus Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
AOGCC data show Nikaitchuq averaged 22,592 bpd in September, down 2.2 percent, 512 bpd, from an August average of 23,104 bpd. Oooguruk averaged 12,558 bpd in September, down 13.6 percent, 1,979 bpd, from an August average of 14,537 bpd.
Alpine production averaged 61,135 bpd in October, down 1.8 percent, 1,146 bpd, from a September average of 62,281. Alpine includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Cook Inlet down 3% Crude oil production from Cook Inlet averaged 15,291 bpd in September, down 3.1 percent from an August average of 15,787 bpd.
The steepest Cook Inlet percent and bpd decline, 29 percent and 279 bpd respectively, was at the Glacier Oil and Gas West McArthur River field, which averaged 682 bpd in September, down from 961 bpd in August.
Hilcorp Alaska’s Trading Bay field was down 5.5 percent, averaging 2,142 bpd in September, down 125 bpd from an August average of 2,267 bpd.
Hilcorp’s McArthur River field, Cook Inlet’s largest, was down 5.2 percent, 275 bpd, averaging 5,031 bpd in September compared to 5,306 bpd in August, while Hilcorp’s Middle Ground Shoal field was down 2.9 percent, 56 bpd, averaging 1,874 bpd in September, down from 1,930 bpd in August.
The Glacier Oil and Gas Redoubt Shoal field, which had a 36 percent drop from July to August, rebounded in September, averaging 752 bpd, up 24.6 percent, 149 bpd, from its August average of 604 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Beaver Creek averaged 205 bpd in September, up 14 percent, 25 bpd, from an August average of 180 bpd.
BlueCrest’s Hansen field, Cook Inlet’s newest producing field at the Cosmopolitan project, averaged 170 bpd in September, up 7.7 percent, 12 bpd, from an August average of 157 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Granite Point averaged 2,534 bpd in September, up 2 percent, 49 bpd, from an August average of 2,485 bpd, and Hilcorp’s Swanson River averaged 1,902 bpd, up a marginal 0.2 percent, 5 bpd, from an August average of 1,897 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.
|
