Two days of pipeline work drops ANS September production 6 percent

Kristen Nelson

Two days of downtime on the trans-Alaska pipeline triggered a 5.9 percent drop in average Alaska North Slope liquids production for September, to an average of 917,538 barrels a day, down 5.9 percent from an average of 975,365 bpd in August.

The pipeline was shut down for scheduled maintenance on pump stations and valves Sept. 22-23. ANS production started to decline mid-month and was off sharply for those two days, averaging close to 550,000 bpd compared to averages of more than 950,000 bpd for most of the month.

The sharpest production drop was at Prudhoe Bay, where the September average was 454,821 bpd, down 10.46 percent from an August average of 507,937 bpd.

Alpine was the only field where production increased in September, averaging 96,971 bpd, up 10.26 percent from an August average of 87,951 bpd. Alpine set a new one-day production record of 103,854 bpd Sept. 25.

Kuparuk River had the smallest decrease, down 1.99 percent to an average of 208,184 bpd in September from an August average of 212,417 bpd.

Milne Point averaged 51,768 bpd in September, down 2.07 percent from an August average of 52,884 bpd.

Lisburne was down 6.91 percent with a September average of 74,368 bpd compared to an August average of 79,890 bpd.

Endicott averaged 31,426 bpd in September, down 8.4 percent from an August average of 34,306 bpd.

Cook Inlet production averaged 34,000 bpd in September, down 2.26 percent from an August average of 34,787 bpd and ANS natural gas liquids (included in Prudhoe Bay production) averaged 40,414 bpd in September, down 5.65 percent from an August average of 42,832 bpd.