North Slope oil production takes May dip

Alaska North Slope crude oil production dipped significantly during May as circumstances forced a cutback in throughput on the trans-Alaska pipeline.

The reduction stemmed from tight storage capacity at the Valdez oil terminal, coupled with tanker scheduling challenges, said Michelle Egan, spokeswoman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the 800-mile pipeline and terminal.

Producers were asked to prorate, or share in a reduction of, North Slope oil output, Egan said.

Prorations are necessary from time to time, but the duration of this one was “a little unusual,” she said.

State figures show that production from Prudhoe Bay and other North Slope oil fields was 550,421 barrels on May 1, dropping to a low of 355,633 barrels on May 9, then rising again to 549,949 barrels on May 19 after proration had ended.

Ships regularly load oil at the Valdez terminal for transport south to West Coast refineries.

Oil coming down the pipeline is stored temporarily in enormous tanks at the terminal. One tank was on a planned service outage, Egan said.

- Wesley Loy