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North Slope production drops to 722,559 bpd Alpine field down first half of August, Gathering Center 2 at Prudhoe Bay unit down from Aug. 11 through early September Kristen Nelson Petroleum News Editor-in-Chief
August Alaska North Slope crude oil production was down 12.5 percent from July due largely to problems in bringing Prudhoe Bay Gathering Center 2 back online after scheduled maintenance and a scheduled shutdown at Alpine.
The big hit was from Prudhoe, down more than 100,000 barrels per day from August 2003. Gathering Center 2 was shut down Aug. 11 for planned maintenance, BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Daren Beaudo told Petroleum News, and has been totally offline until it started coming back online Sept. 9. GC2, the largest Prudhoe Bay gathering center, handles some 100,000 bpd, he said, and only some of that can be made up at the other two gathering centers.
The problem came from one piece of the planned work at GC2, an instrument system ungrade on a reboiler, equipment which dehydrates gas coming into the facility. When the system related to the reboiler was tested prior to restart, it didn’t work as it was designed, Beaudo said. “We had some technical problems” that required “re-engineering and redesigning.” The upgrade was installed properly, he said, it just “wasn’t working as it was designed.”
There were also “some unanticipated interruptions in production at GC1 and GC2,” he said.
Prudhoe production averaged 350,955 bpd in August, down 11.7 percent from an average of 397,464 bpd in July, which was itself a drop of 7.9 percent from June production averaging 431,444 bpd. In August 2003, Prudhoe production averaged 454,761 bpd. Alpine down for major work Alaska North Slope production averaged 722,559 bpd in August, down from 825,733 bpd in July and 934,443 bpd in June, the last full month of Alpine production before a month-long scheduled shutdown began at that western North Slope field.
Alpine was offline from July 19 through mid-August for a combination of maintenance and capacity expansion work, with the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated field producing zero barrels through Aug. 16, 205 barrels on Aug. 17, and 37,925 barrels on Aug. 18 as production at the field ramped up. Alpine production hit 111,171 bpd Aug. 23, but only averaged 43,817 bpd for August, down 19.1 percent from a July average of 54,173 bpd. The field’s capacity has been 100,000-105,000 bpd, and with completion of this summer’s work the company expects to see another 5,000 bpd, with capacity reaching 140,000 bpd when the expansion work is completed next summer. Maintenance at fields scheduled during pipeline shutdown There was a scheduled trans-Alaska pipeline shutdown for construction and maintenance Aug. 16-17, and the Alaska Department of Revenue said a 20 percent drop in production was expected from fields across the North Slope on those days.
In addition, there was a compressor failure at the BP-operated Northstar field Aug. 5, and production dropped from 68,398 bpd Aug. 4 to 42,621 bpd on Aug. 5, and to zero on Aug. 6 and Aug. 7 before production began to ramp up on Aug. 8. Northstar was down again for five days during and after the pipeline maintenance, all of which reduced the field’s average production to 49,600 bpd in August, down 29 percent from an average of 69,865 bpd in July.
Revenue said BP planned to extend the trans-Alaska pipeline throttle back at its Milne Point field for facility maintenance, and the field dropped below 50,000 bpd for three days at mid-month, averaging 50,765 bpd in August. The field still managed to increase its production, up 2.6 percent from a July average of 49,490 bpd, getting back into its normal plus-50,000 bpd production range.
BP-operated Endicott had a summer maintenance shutdown scheduled for Aug. 14-28, Revenue said, and was still shut down Aug. 31, reducing the field’s average production to 9,067 bpd, down 57.8 percent from a July average of 21,502 bpd.
The BP-operated Lisburne field averaged 42,448 bpd in August, down 10.3 percent from a July average of 47,318 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 175,907 bpd in August, down 5.4 percent from a July average of 185,921 bpd.
The temperature at Pump Station No. 1 on the North Slope averaged 47.8 degrees Fahrenheit in August, down slightly from a July average of 49.8 degrees.
Cook Inlet production from all fields averaged 23,550 bpd in August, down 0.6 percent from a July average of 23,694 bpd.
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