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Prudhoe IPA project down but sizeable BP’s newest plan of development suggests similar activity level for the initial participating areas between 2014 and 2015 Eric Lidji For Petroleum News
Having recently closed on a sale of several of its North Slope holdings, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. is more focused on the Prudhoe Bay unit than any time in 30 years.
The upcoming plans of development for the unit should give a sense of the direction the company is heading as it devotes a greater percentage of its resources to Prudhoe.
Each year, BP files three plans of development for its activities at the Prudhoe Bay unit.
The first usually comes in April and covers the initial participating areas. The second usually comes in June and covers the Great Point McIntyre Area, including the Lisburne field. The third usually comes in September and covers the Western Satellites.
The initial participating areas include the original 1968 discovery. The terminology is plural because the first development program split the field between its oil rim and offsetting gas cap, giving one to BP and the other to ARCO to develop. The two regions - the Western Operating Area and Eastern Operating Area - were later united.
The newest plan of development details work from last year and plans for this year.
BP Alaska President Janet Weiss announced a $1.25 billion capital program for Alaska for 2014, which amounted to a 40 percent increase in spending aimed specifically at increasing production through drilling, well workovers and “major projects.”
“We’re drilling more wells and doing significantly more well work jobs in 2013 than 2012, and plan significantly more in 2014 than 2013,” she said in a February 2014 speech to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. “We are focusing on light oil development to ensure we have a healthy business to build the more material opportunities upon.”
The near-term capital program also included funds to bring two rigs to the unit, one by 2015 and one by 2016, which Weiss said would add between 30 and 40 wells each year.
The newest IPA plan of development suggests that the increase will be largely focused on the satellite fields. The drilling activity planned for the IPA this year is similar to 2013 and 2014. But the plan of development shows the oldest commercial operation on the North Slope to be continually in decline and yet surprisingly robust for its fifth decade.
Production down The initial participating areas produced 203,700 barrels per day of crude oil and condensate, 6,931 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and 39,900 bpd of natural gas liquids in 2014, according to BP. Those figures are all down from 2013, when BP produced 218,000 bpd of crude oil and condensate, 7,145 million cubic feet of natural gas and 45,000 bpd of natural gas liquids from the IPA.
The company expects IPA liquids production to fall again this year. The current forecast predicts crude oil and condensate production between 157,000 and 200,000 bpd and natural gas liquids production between 31,000 and 39,000 bpd.
The company drilled 54 penetrations in the IPA in 2014 - eight grassroots wells and 46 sidetracks. The sidetracks included 16 rotary and 30 coiled tube rig penetrations. The company also performed 1,650 well workover jobs, including 416 “rate adding jobs.”
The wells were spread fairly evenly across the initial participating areas with only one noteworthy cluster: BP drilled three of its eight grassroots wells at the N-pad.
Drilling figures were down from 2013, when BP drilled 57 penetrations in the IPA and performed approximately 1,900 well workover jobs, including 300 “rate adding jobs.”
This year, BP expects a “similar” level of drilling activity with a “slightly different mix” of wells - between 13 and 20 penetrations using a rotary rig and between 35 and 40 penetrations using a coiled tubing rig. The workover program is also expected to be “similar” to last year, with 20 to 30 wells. A map of “drilling candidates” includes one new well, eight rotary sidetracks, 14 coiled tubing sidetracks and eight rigged workovers.
Potential projects The projects under evaluation this year largely serve to optimize operations.
One project would upgrade the seawater systems used to process and inject water into the gas cap and other areas of the field to maintain pressure and increase production rates.
Another project would replace the gas-powered compressors at all three Prudhoe Bay flow stations with electric-powered compressors better suited for the current production profile of the field. BP sanctioned the project in 2012 and replaced the compressor at Flow Station 1 in 2014. The company never completed the other two projects and now intends to re-bid the construction contracts this year for replacement in 2016 and 2017.
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