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July ANS production down 17% from June
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 430,456 barrels per day in July, down 16.7 percent from a June average of 516,871 bpd, as operators had fields and portions of fields down for scheduled summer maintenance.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field had the biggest drop in production — down 39.5 percent from June — as the field was shut down completely for planned maintenance (see story in July 29 issue). Alpine production averaged just 45,375 barrels per day in July, compared to 75,049 bpd in June. Production dropped to 34,511 bpd July 20 as shutdown began and reached zero July 22, where it remained for the rest of the month. The field was expected to be down completely for about 20 days.
Alpine production includes satellite production from Fiord (which accounts for some 30 percent of total production), Nanuq and Qannik.
Except where noted, production volumes in this story are from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division, which reports oil production only by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages for the most recent month.
Planned maintenance is also going on at other North Slope fields, including the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Lisburne and Prudhoe Bay fields, which had month-over-month production drops of 33.9 percent and 16.4 percent respectively.
Lisburne averaged 18,108 bpd in July, down from a June average of 27,376 bpd (Lisburne includes volumes from Point McIntyre and Niakuk), while Prudhoe Bay averaged 255,220 bpd in July, down from 305,132 bpd in June (Prudhoe Bay production includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris, as well as production from the BP-operated Northstar and Milne Point fields).
Kuparuk almost level The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field held almost level, down just 0.1 percent. The field averaged 101,985 bpd in July compared to 102,095 bpd in June. Kuparuk includes production from satellites at Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as production from the Nikaitchuq and Oooguruk fields.
Production information for the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field is only available on a month-delay basis from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which reports both by individual field and by pools within each field.
For June, Nikaitchuq averaged 6,962 bpd, down 2.6 percent from a May average of 7,146 bpd, while Oooguruk averaged 8,122 bpd, down 18.3 percent from a May average of 9,938 bpd.
The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 9,768 bpd in July, up 35.3 percent from a June average of 7,319 bpd. Endicott production includes production from the Savant-operated Badami field. AOGCC figures for June show Badami averaging 1,401 bpd, down 8.7 percent from a May average of 1,535 bpd.
Cook Inlet down 3.6 percent Volumes reported by AOGCC for June production in Cook Inlet averaged 10,222 bpd, down 3.6 percent from a May average of 10,600 bpd.
Only three Cook Inlet fields average more than 1,000 bpd: the Hilcorp-operated Granite Point field, which averaged 2,241 bpd in June, up 1.8 percent from a May average of 2,201 bpd; the Hilcorp-operated McArthur River field, which averaged 3,639 bpd in June, down 9.7 percent from a May average of 4,030 bpd; and the XTO-operated Middle Ground Shoal field, which averaged 2,193 bpd in June, down 7.9 percent from a May average of 2,381 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.
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