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Producers working to maximize production BP, ConocoPhillips, list near-term production enhancement projects, including Northstar well work, Alpine facility expansion By Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
On Sept. 6 Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski said he had asked Alaska’s oil producers what they could do to increase production to help compensate for shut-in production in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Hurricane Katrina. On Sept. 12 the governor released letters from North Slope producers BP Exploration (Alaska), ConocoPhillips Alaska and Cook Inlet producer Chevron.
“ConocoPhillips and BP indicated that they have increased production or will be able to increase production in coming weeks by approximately 10,000 bpd,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “Much of the increase is a result of accelerated work on previously planned projects. Where state approval is required, state agencies are responding expeditiously to the producers’ requests.” BP: production ‘at or near capacity’ BP said it and its “partners have been actively working to maximize oil production from our operated fields on the North Slope. With the exception of scheduled and necessary well work and field maintenance, production from BPXA-operated units is presently at or near capacity.”
BP said Sept. 12 that Gathering Center 2 at Prudhoe Bay is down for scheduled work, which is almost complete, and when that facility returns to full operation it “will add back some 80,000 bopd.” That production, the company cautioned, is not an enhancement, but “merely returns the facility to pre-existing production levels…”
North Slope production averaged 849,000 barrels per day in August; the September average through Sept. 11 stands at 771,749 bpd. In addition to GC-2, Northstar had no production for the first five days of the month and ramped up for the next three, only reaching normal production levels of more than 60,000 bpd on Sept. 9, another reduction on the September average.
BP said it has requested the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to approve tract operations and injection orders for several Niakuk area wells “which would accelerate about 5,000 bopd of additional production.”
At Northstar BP said it has initiated well work on seven existing production wells. The work “has been planned for some time but has been accelerated to gain previously forecasted rate benefits at an earlier stage,” the company said. ConocoPhillips: ‘will continue to pursue opportunities’ ConocoPhillips Alaska said Sept. 12 that it “will continue to pursue opportunities to maximize production from the North Slope,” and will be adding some 5,000 bopd over the next several weeks from Kuparuk, West Sak and Alpine. The 1J West Sak pad development at Kuparuk is expected to account for about 1,500 bpd, with 3,000-4,000 bpd coming “as a result of recently completed facility expansion work at Alpine.”
ConocoPhillips said its drilling and well work in the Greater Kuparuk Area is up by 60 percent from last year, and said it “will review its facility maintenance plans at both Kuparuk and Alpine to ensure they minimize any potential effect on production.”
The company told the state that short-term production increases “are exceedingly difficult to achieve. In part, that is because we strive to maximize North Slope production every day” and because operations have to be consistent with state law and “the obligations of a prudent operator.”
There is also, the company said, “the capital-intensive nature of North Slope production operations,” which makes short-term production increases difficult. “The investments necessary to bring on new production usually have to be planned years in advance.” Chevron: ‘producing at maximum capacity’ Chevron said it is reviewing “any alternatives that we may have for our operated assets in the Cook Inlet,” but does “not believe there is a way to increase production significantly in the next couple of weeks. We are currently producing at maximum capacity, and we make every effort to constantly produce at the maximum prudent rate.”
The company said it does not have any production “currently curtailed because of regulatory constraints.”
The company may “undertake some additional well work in the next couple of months, but this would not have a measurable effect until later in the year.” Some barrels from Badami? BP has said it plans to restart Badami, which was shut down at 1,350 bpd in 2003 because that production rate did not “offset field operating costs … making it uneconomical to continue operations.”
The state approved a two-year suspension of production from Badami and the mothballing of the field’s facilities beginning Aug. 1, 2003, and ending June 30, 2005.
When BP applied to restart the Badami field earlier this year it said it planned to test new recovery techniques and said it would do well drilling and workover activity from the existing pad.
Where is that restart now?
BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Daren Beaudo told Petroleum News Sept. 15 that BP began a restart of the Badami facilities the weekend of Sept. 10. Restart was “delayed by weather, both in getting people out to the site and in doing an over flight of the pipeline,” he said.
Natural gas has been piped out to Badami from Endicott, and the flare system tested, Beaudo said.
The oil pipeline has been backfilled with oil from Endicott, but the over flight inspection of the pipeline was delayed by weather.
The equipment at Badami has been checked out, and BP is in the process of getting that equipment up and running.
Beaudo said that on Sept. 13 the estimates were that oil would flow late in the week.
The focus right now, he said, is on a safe startup. “We’re doing all of our due diligence for a safe and effective startup.”
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