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North Slope crude production down 2% Cook Inlet production for April, latest month reported, up 2%, averaging 12,881 bpd — largest bpd increase from Swanson River Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 534,741 barrels per day in May, down 2.1 percent from an April average of 546,087 bpd, a drop of 11,346 bpd, and down 8 percent from May 2012 when production averaged 581,370 bpd.
In Southcentral, Cook Inlet production for April — the latest month for which data is available — was up 2.4 percent over March, averaging 12,881 bpd, a gain of 306 bpd.
May volumes are from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division, which reports oil production consolidated by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages for the most recent month.
Cook Inlet volumes, and volumes for fields with fewer than three working interest owners, are from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which reports monthly volumes by field and pool on a month-delay basis.
Both the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field and the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field had month-over-month production declines.
Prudhoe Bay averaged 303,646 bpd in May, down 3.9 percent from an April average of 315,826. Prudhoe production includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris, as well as production from the BP-operated Northstar and Milne Point fields.
Prudhoe production dropped below 300,000 bpd May 13-18. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. had an eight-hour scheduled shutdown of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline May 18 to install temporary bypass piping around Pump Station 5.
BP spokeswoman Dawn Patience said in a June 3 email that the company has turnarounds scheduled this summer at two production plants, Flow Station 2 and Gathering Center 3. “This work is focused on facility maintenance, vessel repairs and other improvement projects,” she said, and is typically planned to take advantage of temporary facility or pipeline shutdowns and the milder summer weather.
Kuparuk also down Production from the Kuparuk River field also took a dip in the same period, dropping below 100,000 bpd May 14.
ConocoPhillips Alaska spokeswoman Natalie Lowman said the company does have maintenance under way on the North Slope. “At Kuparuk, we currently have some vessel and pipeline maintenance work under way at CPF3 (Central Processing Facility 3) that should be complete by late July. CPF1 will be shut down for about 20 days in August. Alpine has a planned maintenance shutdown in early August which will last about four days,” Lowman said in a June 3 email.
Kuparuk production averaged 127,282 bpd in May, down 1.1 percent from an April average of 128,652. Kuparuk production includes satellite production from Meltwater, Tabasco, Tarn and West Sak, as well as production from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
AOGCC data for Nikaitchuq production show the field averaged 11,153 bpd in April, down 1.7 percent from a March average of 11,348 bpd while April production at Oooguruk averaged 6,002 bpd, up 3.5 percent from a March average of 5,800 bpd.
Other Slope fields up Other fields on the North Slope had month-over-month production increases.
The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 10,179 bpd in May, up marginally from an April average of 10,175 bpd. Endicott production includes satellites and the Savant Alaska-operated Badami field. AOGCC data show Badami averaged 1,230 bpd in April, down marginally from a March average of 1,232 bpd.
The BP-operated Lisburne field averaged 28,465 bpd in May, up 3.1 percent from an April average of 27,605 bpd. Lisburne includes production from Point McIntyre and Niakuk.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 65,169 bpd in May, up 2.1 percent from an April average of 63,830 bpd. Alpine includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Cook Inlet production up AOGCC data show Cook Inlet production averaged 12,881 bpd in April, up 2.4 percent from a March average of 12,574 bpd.
The largest month-over-month per-barrel increase was at the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Swanson River field, which averaged 2,539 bpd in April, up 6.9 percent (164 bpd) from a March average of 2,374 bpd.
The largest percent increase was at the Cook Inlet Energy-operated Redoubt Shoal field, which averaged 328 bpd in April, up 47.4 percent from a March average of 223 bpd.
Production averaged 2,313 bpd, up 4.8 percent, at the Hilcorp-operated Granite Point field, and 2,225 bpd, up 1.3 percent, at the XTO-operated Middle Ground Shoal field.
Other Cook Inlet fields had month-over-month drops in production.
The Hilcorp-operated McArthur River field, at 4,111 bpd in April, was down 0.3 from March, and the Hilcorp-operated Trading Bay field at 611 bpd had the largest percent drop, down 10.2 percent from March.
The Hilcorp-operated Beaver Creek field averaged 101 bpd, down 9.3 percent from March and the Cook Inlet Energy-operated West McArthur River field averaged 652 bpd, down 0.8 percent from March.
Year-over-year Cook Inlet production is up from 11,366 bpd in April 2012.
ANS crude oil production peaked in 1988 at 2.1 million bpd; Cook Inlet crude oil production peaked in 1970 at more than 227,000 bpd.
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