|
January ANS up marginally from December
Production averaged 537,493 bpd, up 0.4 percent from 535,255; largest increases from Nikaitchuq, Milne Point, Greater Mooses Tooth Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope production - crude oil and natural gas liquids - averaged 537,493 barrels per day in January, up 0.4 percent from a December average of 535,255 bpd, but down 1.3 percent from a January 2018 average of 544,305 bpd.
Crude averaged 481,178 bpd, natural gas liquids 56,316 bpd, compared to January 2018 when crude averaged 491,865 bpd and NGLs 52,438 bpd (crude down 2.2 percent, year-over-year, NGLs up 7.4 percent, with the largest increase in NGLs, 8.5 percent, at the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field, the Slope’s largest and longest producing field).
Production data is from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which provides volumes by well on a month-delay basis.
Nikaitchuq The largest month-over-month increase was at Eni’s Nikaitchuq field, which averaged 18,375 bpd in January, up 99.6 percent, 9,170 bpd, from a December average of 9,205, but down 3.9 percent from a January 2018 average of 19,117 bpd. This increase is a return to a more normal level of production at Nikaitchuq, where production started to drop last summer, reaching a low of 6,553 bpd in November when there were only 10 wells operating. By December, the number of wells producing crude was back up to 26 wells at the field (25 this January), compared to 27 in January 2018.
Eni told the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas in July that the subsea flowline between the Spy Island drill site and Oliktok Point needed to be repaired and said it would use a push-pull methodology to install a 10-inch repair sleeve within the 14-inch produced fluids line, with shutdown of the flowline and Spy Island wells projected for 30 to 45 days during the repair.
When the field was down to 10 producing wells in November those wells were all on the Oliktok Point pad.
Milne Point, Greater Mooses Tooth At the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Milne Point field, January production averaged 22,385 bpd, up 6.2 percent, 1,311 bpd, from a December average of 21,075 bpd, and up 9.7 percent from a January 2018 average of 20,407 bpd.
The other major month-over-month increase was at ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Greater Mooses Tooth in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, where production began in early October. In January the field averaged 12,077 bpd, up 9.6 percent from a December average of 11,023 bpd. The new field is currently producing from two wells.
The Hilcorp-operated Northstar field averaged 11,890 bpd in January, up 6.3 percent, 699 bpd, from a December average of 11,191 bpd, and down 0.6 percent from a January 2018 average of 11,962 bpd. Production included 8,768 bpd of crude and 3,122 bpd of NGLs.
Badami, operated by Glacier Oil and Gas subsidiary Savant Alaska, averaged 2,323 bpd in January, up 25.6 percent, 473 bpd, from a December average of 1,850 bpd and up 230.1 percent from a January 2018 average of 703 bpd. Badami production began to increase substantially last May when the B1-07 well came online; in January that well alone accounted for 1,604 bpd, 69 percent of the field’s production.
The Hilcorp-operated Endicott field averaged 7,518 bpd in January, up 1.1 percent, 84 bpd, from a December average of 7,434 bpd and down 3.4 percent from a January 2018 average of 7,786. Endicott production included 6,583 bpd of crude and 935 bpd of NGLs.
Month-over-month declines The largest per-barrel month-over-month decline was at the ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field, which averaged 105,984 bpd in January, down 4.6 percent, 5,063 bpd, from a December average of 111,047 and down 8.9 percent from a January 2018 average of 116,280 bpd.
In addition to the main Kuparuk pool, Kuparuk produces from satellites at Meltwater, Tabasco and Tarn, and from West Sak.
ConocoPhillips’ Colville River field averaged 53,527 bpd in January, down 5.9 percent, 3,352 bpd, from a December average of 56,879 bpd and down 19.3 percent from a January 2018 average of 66,308 bpd.
In addition to oil from the main Alpine pool, Colville production includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Point Thomson, operated by ExxonMobil Production, averaged 9,490 bpd of condensate in January, down 11.5 percent, 1,235 bpd, from a December average of 10,725, but up 452.7 percent from a January 2018 average of 1,717 bpd. The field came online in April 2016 with facilities capable of producing 10,000 bpd of condensate. The company has had technical problems with compressors at the field, required for reinjection of natural gas into the high-pressure field. Production was down over the summer and appeared to normalize in the 10,000-bpd range in November.
Eni’s Oooguruk field, acquired from Caelus Alaska at the beginning of the year, averaged 9,336 bpd in January, down 5.8 percent, 573 bpd, from a December average of 9,909 and down 29.2 percent from a January 2018 average of 13,191 bpd.
Prudhoe Bay, operated by BP Exploration (Alaska), averaged 284,588 bpd in January, down 0.1 percent, 330 bpd, from a December average of 284,918 bpd and down 0.8 percent from a January 2018 average of 286,834 bpd. Production volumes include an average of 232,329 bpd of crude and 52,259 bpd of NGLs.
In addition to Prudhoe oil, production from the Prudhoe Bay field includes other pools: Aurora, Borealis, Lisburne, Midnight Sun, Niakuk, Polaris, Point McIntyre, Put River, Raven and Schrader Bluff.
Cook Inlet Cook Inlet production averaged 15,048 bpd in January, down 7 percent, 1,139 bpd, from a December average of 16,187 and down 5 percent from a January 2018 average of 15,832 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Beaver Creek field averaged 482 bpd in January, down 33.4 percent, 241 bpd, from a December average of 723 bpd but up 447.2 percent from a January 2018 average of 88 bpd. Hilcorp did a re-drill, the 5RD2 well, which came online in November, kicking up production in that month to 904 bpd from an October average of 71 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Granite Point averaged 2,674 bpd in January, down 1 percent, 28 bpd, from a December average of 2,702 bpd and down 11.6 percent from a January 2018 average of 3,025 bpd.
Hansen field, the Cosmopolitan project, operated by BlueCrest, averaged 1,425 bpd in January, down 6.5 percent, 98 bpd, from a December average of 1,523 bpd and up 356.7 percent from a January 2018 average of 312 bpd. The field is currently producing from three wells; in January 2018 there was only one well in production at the field; by February there were two wells; a third came on in September. This January BlueCrest had three wells in production at the field.
Hilcorp’s McArthur River field, Cook Inlet’s largest, averaged 5,151 bpd in January, down 1.3 percent, 65 bpd, from a December average of 5,216 bpd and down 1 percent from a January 2018 average of 5,205 bpd.
Middle Ground Shoal, another Hilcorp field, averaged 1,449 bpd in January, down 0.3 percent, 5 bpd, from a December average of 1,453, and down 7.4 percent from a January 2018 average of 1,565 bpd.
Redoubt Shoal, operated by Glacier Oil and Gas subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy, averaged 981 bpd in January, down 25.1 percent, 328 bpd, from a December average of 1,310 and down 22.9 percent from a January 2018 average of 1,272 bpd.
Hilcorp’s Swanson River field averaged 1,053 bpd in January, down 16.3 percent, 204 bpd, from a December average of 1,258 bpd and down 34.2 percent from a January 2018 average of 1,600 bpd.
Trading Bay, also operated by Hilcorp, averaged 1,382 bpd in January, up 1.9 percent, 26 bpd, from a December average of 1,357 and down 22.3 percent from a January 2018 average of 1,779 bpd.
West McArthur River, operated by Glacier subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy, averaged 451 bpd in January, down 30.1 percent from a December average of 646 bpd and down 54.2 percent from a January 2018 average of 986 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.
|
