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January production up 3% month-over-month
Alaska North Slope crude averages 529,432 bpd, up from 514,636 bpd in December; Cook Inlet averages 15,987, down 1% from December
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 529,432 barrels per day in January, up 2.9 percent, 14,796 bpd, from a December average of 514,636 bpd, while Cook Inlet crude production was down 0.8 percent, month-over-month, averaging 15,987 bpd in January, down 136 bpd, from a December average of 16,123 bpd.
ANS production was down 0.6 percent from January 2017, while Cook Inlet production was up 10.4 percent year-over-year.
Raw data for this report comes from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which provides production information by well on a month-delay basis.
ANS volumes The largest month-over-month ANS increase, by percent and volume, was at the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field, the North Slope’s largest, which averaged 274,483 bpd in January, up 7 percent, 17,914 bpd, from a December average of 256,569, although down 4.1 percent from January 2017. These volumes represent Greater Prudhoe area production, including Lisburne, Point McIntyre and Niakuk, as well as Prudhoe satellites Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris.
Production at the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field, the Slope’s second largest, averaged 121,257 bpd in January, up 2.9 percent, 3,449 bpd, from a December average of 117,808, and also up by 6.2 percent from January 2017. As with Prudhoe, these volumes represent the main Kuparuk field and also include satellites - Meltwater, Tarn, Tabasco and West Sak.
Production from ConocoPhillips’ Colville River unit - which includes Alpine and satellites at Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik - averaged 67,089 bpd in January, down 2.4 percent, 1,642 bpd, from a December average of 68,731, but up 8.6 percent from January 2017.
The Hilcorp Alaska-operated Milne Point field averaged 20,673 bpd in January, up 4.4 percent, 876 bpd, from a December average of 19,797, and also up, 5.3 percent, from January 2017.
Eni’s Nikaitchuq field averaged 13,984 bpd in January, down marginally, less than 1 percent, from a December average of 13,987 bpd, but down 7.8 percent from January 2017.
Oooguruk, operated by Caelus Alaska, averaged 11,468 bpd in January, up 1.4 percent, 155 bpd, from a December average of 11,313, but down 33.5 percent from January 2017.
The Hilcorp-operated Endicott field averaged 6,954 bpd in January, up 0.8 percent, 54 bpd, from a December average of 6,900, but down 12.7 percent from January 2017.
Hilcorp’s Northstar field averaged 9,496 bpd in January, down 1.4 percent, 131 bpd, from a December average of 9,627 bpd, but up 59 percent from January 2017.
Point Thomson, operated by ExxonMobil Production, averaged 3,326 bpd in January, down 63.7 percent from a December average of 9,169 bpd and also down 63.5 percent from January 2017. There is a single producing well at Point Thomson, and the number of days per month that well has produced, as well as average bpd when it is producing, varies widely - 16 days in January, up from two days in June, down from 30 in November, with production varying over the past year from as low as this January to as high as 9,575 bpd in November.
Badami, operated by Glacier Oil & Gas subsidiary Savant Alaska, averaged 702 bpd in January, down 4.5 percent, 33 bpd, from 736 bpd in December, and down 23.1 percent from January 2017.
Cook Inlet Hilcorp is the major operator in Cook Inlet and its Beaver Creek field, the basin’s smallest producer, averaged 89 bpd in January, down 12.8 percent, 13 bpd, from 102 bpd in December, and down 95 percent from January 2017.
Granite Point, also operated by Hilcorp, averaged 3,058 bpd in January, down 6.8 percent, 224 bpd, from a December average of 3,282, but up 25.7 percent from January 2017.
BlueCrest’s Hansen field, the Cosmopolitan project, averaged 345 bpd in January, up 143 percent, 203 bpd, from a December average of 142 bpd.
Hilcorp’s McArthur River field, Cook Inlet’s largest, averaged 5,266 bpd in January, down 2 percent, 106 bpd, from a December average of 5,372, but up 39 percent from January 2017.
Middle Ground Shoal, also operated by Hilcorp, averaged 1,568 bpd in January, down marginally from a December average of 1,574, and down 10.4 percent from January 2017.
The Glacier Oil & Gas Redoubt Shoal field averaged 1,272 bpd in January, up 18.1 percent from a December average of 1,077, but down 1.2 percent from January 2017.
Hilcorp’s Swanson River field averaged 1,624 bpd in January, down 3.5 percent, 59 bpd, from a December average of 1,683 bpd, and down 12 percent from January 2017.
Trading Bay, also managed by Hilcorp, averaged 1,779 bpd in January, down 4.6 percent, 85 bpd, from a December average of 1,864 bpd but up 5.9 percent from January 2017.
Glacier’s West McArthur River field averaged 986 bpd in January, down 4 percent, 41 bpd, from a December average of 1,027, and down 25.9 percent from January 2017.
Alaska North Slope 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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