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Greater Point Mac waiting on seismic BP Exploration (Alaska) has completed North Prudhoe seismic project but said it needs 2 years of processing to understand results ERIC LIDJI For Petroleum News
BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. appears to be postponing any major development decisions in the Greater Point McIntyre Area until the results of a recent seismic survey can be processed, according to plans of development submitted to the state at the end of June. (See maps)
The Greater Point McIntyre Area incorporates six fields on the east side of Prudhoe Bay - Point McIntyre, Lisburne, Niakuk, North Prudhoe Bay, Raven and West Beach. The region produces little oil compared to the Prudhoe Bay unit as a whole, in part because the region is aging and in part because development drilling has been minimal in recent years. The future of the region depends largely on the results and effectiveness of the large and multi-year North Prudhoe 3-D seismic program, completed earlier this year.
According to BP, it should take one or two years to process the results of the survey, which means that any resulting development drilling will likely be many years away.
Until then, aging fields will continue to decline and suspended fields will remain shut-in.
Point McIntyre and Lisburne In the year ending March 31, 2015, the Point McIntyre field produced 5.94 million barrels of liquid hydrocarbons at an average rate of 16,370 barrels per day - down from 6.79 million barrels at an average rate of 18,520 barrels per day the previous year. “Long-term oil production is expected to continue to naturally decline from current rates due to increasing water cuts and gas-oil ratios,” the company wrote in its plan of development.
In the year ending March 31 Lisburne produced 1.7 million barrels of crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids at an average rate of 4,800 barrels per day - down from 2.4 million barrels at an average rate of 6,400 barrels per day the previous year.
The main Lisburne Production Center at the aging field is currently gas constrained, which, because of the high gas-to-oil ratio of many wells at the field, impacts oil production. One strategy BP uses to manage this problem is suspending certain wells for days or even weeks after several days of production, which the company has said will often result in lower gas-to-oil ratios when wells are eventually returned to production.
Earlier this year, BP began drilling the L3-03 well at Lisburne and plans to drill two more development wells - L3-10 and L1-23 - through the remainder of the year. The results of those wells will determine the drilling program for the end of this year and next year.
Smaller fields Additional drilling opportunities are especially needed at the other satellites.
Niakuk production fell dramatically last year. In the year ending March 31 the field produced 372,000 barrels of liquids at an average rate of 1,020 barrels per day - down from 844,000 barrels at an average rate of 2,300 barrels per day the previous year.
The lone producing well at North Prudhoe was suspended in February 2000 because of safety concerns related to a technical problem. An attempt to return the well to production in 2005 failed. A recently completed evaluation of the well yielded no immediate plans to return it to production, according to BP, but the company believes the results of the seismic campaign could present other development options at the field.
In the year ending March 31 Raven produced 60,000 barrels of crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids at an average rate of 170 barrels per day - down from 110,000 barrels at an average rate of 3,100 barrels per day during the previous year.
Given that the lone producing well at the Raven field “still produces effectively,” according to BP, the company has no plans to sidetrack it during the upcoming year.
West Beach production was suspended in 2001 because declining reservoir pressure and increasing gas-to-oil ratio challenged the economics of the field. Since then, BP has undertaken numerous studies of the field to determine whether it might one day produce again. The future of the field now depends largely on the results of the seismic survey.
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