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Hilcorp completes its largest TAR at Prudhoe; Alpine also has work
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
North Slope production volumes dropped over the summer as major maintenance projects were underway by Hilcorp North Slope at Prudhoe Bay and by ConocoPhillips Alaska at Alpine.
The change is noticeable in the throughput volumes published by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline: The June average was 463,066 barrels per day, dropping to 388,244 bpd in July.
Prudhoe TAR The largest volume decline was from Prudhoe Bay, the North Slope's largest field, where operator Hilcorp North Slope was doing major planned maintenance, resulting in production downtime at both Gathering Center 1 and Gathering Center 2.
Matt Shuckerow, Hilcorp's corporate manager, Alaska government and public affairs, told Petroleum News in an Aug. 13 email that the summer's work was complete.
"Hilcorp is proud to reach completion of its largest ever turnaround, TAR, at Prudhoe Bay, which was supported by our team of employees and hundreds of contractors and operators working around the clock this summer.
"This five-week turnaround at GC1 and GC2 -- which included 76,000-man hours, hundreds of permits, various facility upgrades and maintenance projects -- was completed safely and ahead of schedule.
"This project was critical to future production and development at Prudhoe Bay and underscores Hilcorp's deep commitment to the field," he said.
Hilcorp did not specify the work undertaken, but the company's 2025 plan of development for the initial participating areas at Prudhoe Bay, covering July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, lists major facility projects which the company said it was evaluating, some of which could have required facility shutdowns: CCP compressor upgrades, 2025 scope; GC2 Interstage Separator; GC2 LPS compressor upgrades; FS-2 De-Oiler, 2025 scope; and CCP air inlet housing replacement, 2025 scope.
Alpine At Alpine, ConocoPhillips' Alaska-based spokeswoman Rebecca Boys told Petroleum News in an email, the field was down beginning Aug. 1 for a planned maintenance shutdown at the Alpine Central Facility. The facility processes crude from the Colville River unit and from Greater Mooses Tooth in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Boys said the field was scheduled to be back up the week ending Aug. 15.
Alaska Department of Revenue Tax Division data show that Alpine averaged 42,896 barrels per day in July, with volumes dropping to zero in August.
ConocoPhillips Alaska operates Alpine and the much larger Kuparuk River unit east of Alpine.
"We have equipment maintenance shutdowns as needed across our North Slope assets. At this time, Kuparuk is not scheduled for a maintenance shutdown," Boys said.
In its 2025 plan of development for Alpine, ConocoPhillips said that during the 2025 turnaround at the Alpine Central Facility it planned "to install new internals in the C1 1st Stage Knock Out Drum vessel. This upgrade aims to reduce liquid carryover into the 1st Stage Compressor, thereby enhancing compressor efficiency and ensuring more sustained performance."
TAR production impacts Daily production volumes for the North Slope as reported by Revenue's Tax Division began to dip in July.
Volumes reported under the header Prudhoe Bay include other Slope units -- Northstar, Milne Point, Endicott and Badami. Only Milne Point has substantial output, with Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission data showing that in June Milne Point averaged 42,962 bpd, accounting for 15% of the total under the Prudhoe Bay header. That leaves 245,084 bpd, the majority of which comes from Prudhoe as Badami, Endicott and Northstar combined in June for an average of 12,621 bpd, 4.4% of the total.
So basically 80% of the volume shown under the Tax Division's Prudhoe Bay header is from Prudhoe Bay.
In July the volumes shown for Prudhoe Bay begin at 290,224 bpd on July 1 and end the month at 191,671 bpd, with a dip in the middle of the month to a low of 140,989 on July 14.
If the four smaller fields included in the total averaged 55,583 bpd in July, as they did in June -- unknown at this point -- Prudhoe output could have dropped to less than 100,000 bpd in mid-month.
By Aug. 12, the most recent date for which Tax Division data was available when this issue of Petroleum News went to press, the column for Prudhoe Bay was back to volumes in the normal range -- 291,169 barrels, for example, on Aug. 11, up from 177,559 barrels on Aug. 1, while Alpine shows zero production through Aug. 12.
--KRISTEN NELSON
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