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BP Amoco to shut down Badami field for the winter
by The Associated Press
Plans are not finalized, but at this point BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. plans to shut down the pipeline from Badami to Endicott in December, company spokeswoman Carla Beam told PNA Nov. 11.
BP told the state in September that the reservoir has produced at a much lower level than anticipated and as a result drilling has proceeded at a slower pace.
The field was shut down temporarily for three months starting in February to avoid any risk of freezing in the Badami pipeline and the company said it anticipated that similar difficulties with low levels of production may arise in the winter of 1999-2000.
BP said that once the field is shut down this year, it probably won’t be restarted until May.
The original development plan called for 38 wells, approximately 20 production wells, 15 injection wells, two source water wells and one Class I waste disposal well. To date, 10 wells have been drilled. The drilling program was suspended due to disappointing well performance, believed to be due in part to lack of connectivity in the reservoir.
High winds hamper pipeline fix High winds have kept divers from reaching a break in an undersea pipeline from Unocal's Dillon Platform and the next tide favorable for divers is not until Nov. 14.
"There probably won't be any dives until around that time frame," said Unocal spokeswoman Roxanne Sinz. "Generally speaking, our plans are to get someone down there to assess the situation, identify the failure and fix the line."
The break in the line was discovered Oct. 23. Unocal has estimated that the break caused a spill of 10 to 12 barrels of crude oil.
Until a fix is made, Unocal is pursuing the possibility of shipping oil produced at Dillon to Platform C through an existing pipeline now used to move natural gas. From there, Dillon oil could be piped to Platform A and then to the Tesoro Alaska Petroleum Corp. refinery in Nikiski.
Dillon was producing about 550 barrels of oil per day before the leak was discovered.
BP Amoco doubles share in Anadarko basin gas BP Amoco said Nov. 11 that it has strengthened its position as North America's number one gas producer through a $500 million deal. The company has agreed to purchase a significant part of Repsol-YPF's holding in Crescendo Resources, a major gas producer and processor in Texas and Oklahoma.
Richard Olver, chief executive of exploration and production at BP Amoco said: "This move will double BP Amoco's share of gas production from the Anadarko basin to 180 million cubic feet a day as well as adding 15,000 barrels a day of liquids production ... Prior to combining with Amoco, BP's net gas production in the USA was just over 100 mmcfd. Our total combined US gas production is now around 2,400 mmcfd."
BP Amoco's worldwide gas production currently stands at more than 5,900 mmcfd, compared with BP's production of 1,500 mmcfd a year ago prior to the merger.
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