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ANS production up 11% month-over-month Led by steady production at Prudhoe Bay field, up 21% from last month, October Alaska North Slope production up from September Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 571,269 barrels per day in October, up 10.65 percent from a September average of 516,296 bpd.
The biggest increase was from the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field which averaged 328,630 bpd in October, up 21 percent from an average of 271,444 bpd in September.
The difference between the months was steady Prudhoe production in October, compared to September production which was below 200,000 bpd Sept. 1 and only got above the 300,000-bpd mark on Sept. 19.
Prudhoe production includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris, as well as production from the Northstar and Milne Point fields.
Except where noted, volumes 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.
Elsewhere, up and down Elsewhere on the North Slope, production was up and down.
At the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field, October production averaged 133,541 bpd, up 2.5 percent from a September average of 130,264 bpd. Kuparuk production includes satellite production from Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as production from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission data — by field and pool — is available on a month delay basis. Those figures show Nikaitchuq September production averaged 9,099 bpd, up 0.8 percent from an August average of 9,023 bpd, while Oooguruk averaged 7,155 bpd in September, down 0.5 percent from an August average of 7,194 bpd.
The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 11,348 bpd in October, up 4.2 percent from a September average of 10,886 bpd. Endicott production includes the Savant-operated Badami field, which AOGCC data shows averaged 1,349 bpd in September, down 5 percent from an August average of 1,421 bpd.
The BP-operated Lisburne field averaged 24,800 bpd in October, down 16.5 percent from a September average of 29,705 bpd. Lisburne includes production from Point McIntyre and Niakuk.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 72,950 bpd in October, down 1.4 percent from a September average of 73,997 bpd. Alpine includes production from satellites at Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Cook Inlet AOGCC data for September show Cook Inlet crude oil production averaged 11,731 bpd, up 6.65 percent from an August average of 11,000 bpd.
Cook Inlet crude oil production is from Beaver Creek, operated by Marathon Oil; Granite Point and McArthur River, operated by Hilcorp Alaska; Middle Ground Shoal, operated by ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO; Redoubt Shoal, operated by Cook Inlet Energy; Swanson River and Trading Bay, operated by Hilcorp; and West McArthur River, operated by Cook Inlet Energy.
Granite Point, McArthur River and Middle Ground Shoal are the only fields with production of more than a thousand barrels a day.
McArthur River averaged 4,430 bpd in September, up 5 percent from an August average of 4,217 bpd. Granite Point averaged 2,261 bpd in September, down 0.6 percent from an August average of 2,274 bpd. Middle Ground Shoal averaged 2,257 bpd in September, down 3.1 percent from an August average of 2,329 bpd.
With the exception of McArthur River, September-over-August increases came from smaller fields: Swanson River averaged 938 bpd, up 56.8 percent from an August average of 598 bpd; West McArthur River averaged 864 bpd, up 45 percent from an August average of 596 bpd; and Redoubt Shoal averaged 250 bpd, up 31 percent from an August average of 191 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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