June ANS production down 5.7% from May

Turnarounds at Endicott, Lisburne, drive production drop; Endicott ramping up, Lisburne work continues; other projects under way

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Alaska North Slope crude oil production for June averaged 570,173 barrels per day, a drop of 5.68 percent from a May average of 604,508. While the drop was driven primarily by scheduled maintenance turnarounds at the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Endicott and Lisburne fields, all North Slope fields saw a month-over-month decline from May to June.

Endicott, which averaged 12,472 bpd in May, averaged 908 bpd in June, a drop of 92.7 percent, or some 11,564 bpd.

BP Alaska spokesman Steve Rinehart told Petroleum News July 13 that an Endicott maintenance turnaround started at the beginning of June and that June production listed under Endicott by the Alaska Department of Revenue was actually from Badami.

Except where noted, volumes are from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division, which tracks oil production by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages.

While Revenue reports Badami production only as part of Endicott, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission breaks out production by field and pool. The latest data available from the commission is for May, when total production at Badami was 43,802 barrels for the month, some 1,460 bpd. Revenue data for Endicott production in June, in this case only Badami production, ranged from zero barrels June 12 to a high of 1,521 barrels June 26.

Scheduled maintenance

Production at Endicott began ramping back up July 7 and by July 12, the latest data available when Petroleum News went to press, Endicott production (including Badami) had reached more than 8,000 bpd.

Rinehart said work at Lisburne began June 17 and was scheduled to run for more than a month. Production quickly dropped to zero from some 30,000 bpd earlier in the month, and the field averaged only 16,718 bpd in June, down 36.53 percent or 9,624 bpd from a May average of 26,342. Production was still showing zero on July 12 data.

Rinehart said work at Lisburne included some vessel cleanout, flare system improvements and a variety of other safety and upgrade items.

Maintenance work is also under way at the seawater treatment plant, Rinehart said, and a turnaround at Flow Station 3 on the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay is scheduled to begin in late July, with that work including replacement of several valves in the gas handling flare system and a variety of other safety and upgrade work.

Rinehart said all of the work involved taking care of facilities and extending service life.

Prudhoe down 1.3 percent

Production from the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 136,131 bpd in June, down 2.8 percent, some 3,918 bpd, from a May average of 140,049. Kuparuk production includes Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as production from the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field and the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field. AOGCC data for May, the most recent available, shows Oooguruk producing a total of 252,159 barrels, some 8,405 bpd, and Nikaitchuq producing a total of 200,708 barrels, some 6,690 bpd.

The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 78,698 bpd in June, down 2.47 percent, 1,994 bpd, from a May average of 80,692 bpd. Alpine includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.

The BP-operated Northstar field averaged 13,610 bpd in June, down 12.22 percent, some 1,894 bpd, from a May average of 15,504 bpd.

BP’s Milne Point field averaged 22,968 bpd in June, down 5.38 percent, 1,306 bpd, from a May average of 24,274 bpd.

The average temperature at Pump Station 1 was 39.93 degrees F, compared to 26.94 F in May.

Cook Inlet production averaged 11,125 bpd in June, up 673 bpd, 1.91 percent, from a May average of 10,452 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.