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Alpine field hits one-day production of 128,363 bpd January Alaska North Slope crude production averages 947,621 bpd, down 3.4 percent from December; bad weather, including high winds blamed Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
Winter weather is supposed to be a good thing for Alaska North Slope oil production: gas compression works more effectively at lower temperatures, improving oil production rates. In January, however, winter provided too much of a good thing. The Alaska Department of Revenue reports that bad weather on the slope Jan. 8-11, including high winds, forced a reduction in production, with slope-wide production dropping below 900,000 bpd Jan. 10.
The North Slope oil production average was 947,621 barrels per day in January, down 3.4 percent from a December average of 981,072 bpd.
In addition to the weather, individual fields had slowed production. There was a compressor seal failure at BP’s Northstar field, and production dropped early in January. The field had a complete power outage Jan. 13, cutting production by more than half. And ConocoPhillips’ Alpine field had a six-hour shutdown Jan. 26 caused by a power outage. Alpine hits new daily average Alpine was one of two fields on the North Slope with January production above December’s: Alpine averaged 119,385 bpd in January, up 3 percent from a December average of 115,847 bpd, and on Jan. 1 Alpine hit a new one-day production record of 128,363 barrels. Operator ConocoPhillips (78 percent) and partner Anadarko Petroleum (22 percent) are expanding the Alpine production facilities and work completed this summer increased the field’s produced water handling capacity from 10,000 bpd to 100,000 bpd and increased oil capacity by 5,000 bpd. Work to be completed this summer will increase oil production capacity to a peak of 140,000 bpd. Alpine, which came online in 2000, had an original capacity of 80,000 bpd; de-bottlenecking work begun in 2001 brought the production rate up to 100,000 to 105,000 bpd.
The only other field with a January production increase was BP-operated Endicott, which averaged 23,886 bpd in January, up 12.6 percent from a December average of 21,223 bpd. Endicott production took a dip in December for clean-up of a glycol spill in a gas module, and returned to a more normal production range in January. Northstar has deepest dip Northstar January production was down 8.4 percent, averaging 67,999 bpd, compared to 74,238 bpd in December. Production dropped into the 50,000-bpd range in the first half of the month, and went as low as 35,866 bpd Jan. 13, the day the plant had a complete power outage.
BP’s Milne Point field (includes Schrader Bluff) averaged 49,440 bpd in January, down 5.7 percent from a December average of 52,438 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field (with production also coming from West Sak, Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and Palm) averaged 187,306 bpd in January, down 5.5 percent from a December average of 198,179 bpd.
BP-operated Prudhoe Bay (including production from Midnight Sun, Aurora, Polaris, Borealis and Orion) averaged 454,741 bpd in January, down 3.8 percent from a December average of 472,908 bpd.
BP-operated Lisburne (including Point McIntyre and Niakuk) averaged 44,864 bpd in January, down 3 percent from a December average of 46,239 bpd.
The average temperature in January at Pump Station No. 1 on the trans-Alaska pipeline was -8 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to a three-year average for January of -10.2 degrees F; the December temperature averaged -7.1 degrees F.
Cook Inlet production averaged 22,692 bpd in January, almost flat from December production of 22,763 bpd.
Statewide production averaged 970,313 bpd, down 3.3 percent from a December average of 1,003,835 bpd.
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