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ANS production drops in September Volume drop led by Prudhoe Bay, down 55,000 barrels per day; BP shut in 137 wells at end of August for testing, company says maintenance, weather also factors Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
Alaska North Slope production averaged 890,956 barrels per day in September, down 8.6 percent from an August average of 974,873 bpd. Milne Point was a bright spot: Up 11.75 percent after BP Exploration brought S pad wells on line Sept. 1.
Production was down at Alpine due to planned maintenance, a drop of 21.6 percent from August. The Department of Revenue characterized a 23.84 percent production drop at Northstar as “continued start-up pains.”
Prudhoe Bay production for September was down 11.93 percent, a drop of some 55,032 barrels per day from August.
Field operator BP Exploration (Alaska) took 137 wells off production at Prudhoe Bay in late August for testing after an explosion at A-22 which injured a worker. BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell told PNA Oct. 2 that BP first estimated that 150 wells would be taken off production. Those wells, he said, would have had a 60,000 bpd impact on Prudhoe production. But of the original 150 wells BP looked at to reconfirm casing integrity, only 137 were taken off production, reducing the maximum production impact to about 45,000 bpd. Some of those wells, Chappell said, would have been off production for reasons associated with facilities and ambient air temperature.
Of the 137 wells, 68 have undergone testing and been approved for return to service, with 60 back in production as of Oct. 1. Chappell said BP is returning wells to production slowly and methodically. Some 20 of the 137 wells tested require additional remedial action after evaluation by BP’s engineering group leaving 49 still being evaluated.
The impact of the wells offline for testing is about 20,000 bpd, he said, with production at Prudhoe also down due to planned maintenance at Gathering Center 2 and outside maintenance work being done before winter sets in.
Milne has largest increase Lisburne September production was almost level with August — down just 0.09 percent.
On the plus side, Kuparuk River was up 0.43 percent, Endicott was up 2.39 percent and Milne Point, where the Department of Revenue reports that S pad wells came online Sept. 1, had a production increase of 11.75 percent from August to September.
Prudhoe Bay (production figures include satellite fields Midnight Sun, Aurora, Polaris and Borealis) had the largest per-barrel negative impact on production, with a September average of 406,262 bpd, down 55,032 bpd from an August average of 461,294 bpd.
Alpine (includes Nanuq production), which was down entirely five days early in the month for planned maintenance, averaged just 79,081 bpd in September, down from an August average of 100,853 bpd.
Northstar averaged 45,419 bpd, down 14,215 bpd from an August average of 59,634 bpd. At Lisburne (includes production from Point McIntyre, Niakuk, West Beach and North Prudhoe Bay State), September production averaged 65,192 bpd, down just 61 bpd from an August average of 65,253 bpd.
The largest per-barrel and percentage gain was at Milne Point (including Schrader Bluff production), up 5,583 bpd to 53,116 bpd in September from 47,533 bpd in August.
Development of S pad, where production came on line Sept. 1, began in 2001. BP Exploration (Alaska) President Steve Marshall said last November that the project was estimated at $150 million, $50 million of that in 2001 and at least $100 million in 2002. At that time BP was estimating fourth-quarter 2002 startup for the project.
The S pad project is a Schrader Bluff viscous oil project and BP is using new technology including jet pumps and long horizontal well sections with no sand control to produce the accumulation.
Endicott production (includes Sag River, Eider and Badami) averaged 28,418 bpd in September, up 664 barrels from an August average of 27,754 bpd.
Kuparuk River (includes production from West Sak, Tabasco, Tarn and Meltwater), averaged 213,468 bpd in September, up 916 barrels from an August average of 212,552 bpd.
Production of Prudhoe Bay natural gas liquids averaged 30,159 bpd in September, down 18.57 percent (6,877 bpd) from an August average of 37,036 bpd. The temperature at Pump Station No. 1 on the North Slope averaged 39.7 degrees F in September, compared to a four-year average for September of 38.6 degrees F.
Cook Inlet production averaged 31,197 bpd in September, up 1.55 percent (475 bpd) from an August average of 30,722 bpd.
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