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May ANS down 4% on planned maintenance April Cook Inlet production down 11% on Middle Ground Shoal shutdown for fuel gas line repairs, Anna platform gas condensate spill Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
May crude oil production from Alaska’s North Slope was down 3.8 percent from April as volumes were reduced for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.’s first planned maintenance shutdown of the season, an 18-hour line shutdown May 6-7. Cook Inlet crude oil production for April was down 11.3 percent from March, with major month-over-month production drops at Granite Point and Middle Ground Shoal as a fuel gas line was repaired at Granite Point and the source of a slick on the water was identified at the Anna platform at Middle Ground Shoal.
ANS production averaged 544,808 barrels per day in May, down 21,426 bpd from an April average of 566,234 bpd.
The largest per-barrel drop was at the BP Exploration (Alaska)-managed Prudhoe Bay field, the Slope’s largest, which averaged 301,144 bpd in May, down 3.6 percent, 11,225 bpd, from an April average of 312,369 bpd. Prudhoe production was the lowest, 259,968 bpd, on May 6 during the trans-Alaska oil pipeline maintenance shutdown.
Prudhoe volumes include satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion, Polaris, Sag River, Schrader Bluff and Ugnu, as well as volumes from the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Milne Point and Northstar fields.
Milne Point averaged 21,206 bpd in April, up 1 percent, 219 bpd, from a March average of 20,987 bpd. Northstar averaged 7,490 bpd in April, down 1.7 percent, 130 bpd, from a March average of 7,620 bpd.
Information for May comes from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division which reports North Slope oil production consolidated by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages. More detailed data, including Cook Inlet and individual North Slope fields and pools, is reported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on a month-delay basis.
Fields down month-over-month The largest month-over-month percentage drop was at the Hilcorp-managed Endicott field, which averaged 12,725 bpd in May, down 18.6 percent, 2,901 bpd, from an April average of 15,626 bpd. Endicott volumes include satellite production from Eider, Minke and Sag Delta, as well as from the Badami field operated by Glacier Oil & Gas subsidiary Savant Alaska and from the ExxonMobil Production Co.-operated Point Thomson field.
AOGCC data for April show Badami averaged 876 bpd, down 0.8 percent, 7 bpd, from a March average of 883 bpd.
Point Thomson averaged 6,416 bpd in April, up 1.8 percent, 113 bpd, from a March average of 6,303 bpd.
Tax Division volumes for Endicott in May show a range of daily volumes from a low of 9,292 bpd May 17 to a high of 15,977 May 3. Since volumes in the 8,000-9,000 bpd range were typical of Endicott prior to Point Thomson coming online in April 2016, the fluctuation in daily production in May suggests variance in Point Thomson volumes.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-managed Kuparuk River field averaged 141,387 bpd in May, down 4 percent, 5,900 bpd, from an April average of 147,287 bpd. Kuparuk includes satellite production from Meltwater, Tabasco, Tarn and West Sak, as well as volumes from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Caelus Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
AOGCC data for April show Nikaitchuq averaging 22,836 bpd, up 9.9 percent, 2,056 bpd, from a March average of 20,780 bpd, and Oooguruk averaging 14,159 bpd, up 2.2 percent, 298 bpd, from a March average of 13,862 bpd.
Volumes from BP-operated Lisburne averaged 24,057 bpd in May, down 4.6 percent, 1,168 bpd, from an April average of 25,225 bpd. Lisburne volumes include Niakuk, Point McIntyre and Raven.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 65,495 bpd in May, down 0.4 percent from an April average of 65,727 bpd. Alpine volumes include satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
In year-over-year comparisons, Kuparuk production was down 2.4 percent from May 2016; Alpine was down 0.4 percent from May 2016.
All other ANS producing centers showed year-over-year increases: Prudhoe Bay was up 5.2 percent, Endicott (with the addition of Point Thomson) was up 38.7 percent; and Lisburne was up 1.9 percent.
Cook Inlet production drop Cook Inlet crude oil production for April averaged 11,694 bpd, down 11.3 percent, 1,483 bpd, from a March average of 13,177 bpd - that a drop of 6.2 percent, 866 bpd, from a February average of 14,042 bpd.
The major drivers were the Granite Point and Middle Ground Shoal fields, where Hilcorp had shutdowns following a gas condensate leak at the Granite Point Anna platform and a fuel gas leak on a fuel gas line at the Middle Ground Shoal field.
Production from the Anna platform in the Granite Point field was down for most of April after Hilcorp shut down crude oil production April 1 when an oil sheen was observed following a bump to the platform. A final situation report from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation estimated that 3 gallons or less of natural gas condensate were released from the platform’s gas flaring system during maintenance. ADEC authorized restart of the Anna platform and the associated subsea oil pipeline April 28.
At the Middle Ground Shoal field, Hilcorp shut the field down in late March until a subsea gas fuel line could be repaired. Initial repair work was done in April and a permanent repair clamp was installed May 19 on the line between Platform A and Nikiski, so the field was down part of March and all of April.
The largest per-barrel drop was at Middle Ground Shoal, which averaged 2 bpd in April, down 99.8 percent, 1,346 bpd, from a March average of 1,348 bpd, that volume a 22.8 percent drop, 399 bpd, from an average of 1,747 bpd in February.
The month-to-month drop at Granite Point was 46.2 percent, with the field averaging 1,334 bpd in April, down 1,147 bpd from a March average of 2,481 bpd.
Glacier Oil & Gas’ West McArthur field averaged 1,260 bpd in April, down 5.1 percent from a March average of 1,328 bpd, while the company’s other Cook Inlet field, Redoubt Shoal, averaged 834 bpd in April, down 2 percent, 17 bpd, from a March average of 851 bpd.
BlueCrest’s Hansen field, the Cosmopolitan project, averaged 145 bpd in April, almost flat from an April average of 146 bpd.
All other Cook Inlet fields, all Hilcorp-operated, had month-over-month increases.
Beaver Creek averaged 185 bpd in April, up 2.2 percent, 4 bpd, from a March average of 181 bpd.
McArthur River averaged 3,727 bpd in April, up 14.6 percent, 473 bpd, from a March average of 3,254 bpd.
Swanson River averaged 2,029 bpd in April, up 5.4 percent, 105 bpd, from a March average of 1,924 bpd.
Trading Bay averaged 2,178 bpd in April, up 31 percent, 515 bpd, from a March average of 1,663 bpd.
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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