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Summer maintenance drops ANS production North Slope averages 500,525 bpd in June, down 7.5% from May; includes first full pipeline shutdown of season; Cook Inlet also down By KRISTEN NELSON Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 500,525 barrels per day in June, down 7.48 percent from a May average of 541,001 bpd, driven by the first scheduled summer maintenance shutdown of the trans-Alaska pipeline oil pipeline.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline, had the line shut down for 24 hours of major maintenance June 20-21. Shorter shutdowns are scheduled over the summer and one additional long-duration shutdown Aug. 29-30.
North Slope producers take advantage of the Alyeska shutdown and summer weather for scheduled maintenance.
The largest month-to-month production drop was at the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Lisburne field, part of greater Prudhoe Bay, down 68.26 percent from May. That drop occurred because Lisburne was totally shutdown for almost two weeks, June 14-27.
BP spokeswoman Dawn Patience told Petroleum News in an email that “the Lisburne work is part of the summer turnaround schedule.”
Lisburne averaged 8,806 bpd in June, down 18,938 bpd from a May average of 27,744 bpd. Crude oil from Point McIntyre and Niakuk is processed through the Lisburne facility.
June production information is from the Alaska Department of Revenue’s Tax Division which reports North Slope oil production consolidated by major production centers and provides daily production and monthly averages. More detailed data, including Cook Inlet and individual North Slope fields and pools, is reported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on a month-delay basis.
All North Slope producing areas down All North Slope producing areas as reported by the Department of Revenue had month-over-month declines, showing daily production drops on either side of the Alyeska June 20-21 shutdown.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River unit averaged 135,538 bpd in June, down 9.09 percent from a May average of 149,092 bpd.
ConocoPhillips Alaska spokeswoman Natalie Loman told Petroleum News in an email that turnarounds included a shutdown at Kuparuk Central Processing Facility 3 scheduled to coincide with the June 20-21 trans-Alaska oil pipeline shutdown; a CPF 2 shutdown which began June 15 and will run through early August for inspection and modification work; and an annual turnaround at Alpine which will begin in late August and is estimated to take several days.
Kuparuk production includes satellites at Meltwater, Tabasco, Tarn and West Sak, as well as production from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Caelus Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
AOGCC data for May show that Nikaitchuq averaged 21,813 bpd, up 3.53 percent from an April average of 21,069 bpd, and Oooguruk averaged 13,012 bpd in May, down 16.52 percent from an April average of 15,587 bpd.
Endicott, Prudhoe down The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 9,183 bpd in June, down 2.8 percent from a May average of 9,488 bpd. Endicott includes production from the Savant Alaska-operated Badami field, which AOGCC data show averaged 1,124 bpd in May, up 3.28 percent from an April average of 1,089 bpd.
The BP-operated Prudhoe Bay field averaged 294,537 bpd in June, down 1.93 percent from a May average of 300,330 bpd.
In addition to Lisburne, BP’s Patience said BP also has three primary turnarounds planned at Prudhoe Bay - at the Central Gas Facility, Gathering Center 2 and Flow Station 3. She said the work “is focused on facility maintenance, vessel repairs and other improvement projects.” The turnarounds are part of the company’s “commitment to safe, reliable and efficient operations” and take advantage of other facility or pipeline shutdowns to allow “workers to safely work around pipes, flares and other equipment,” she said.
Prudhoe production includes satellites at Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris, as well as production from the BP-operated Milne Point and Northstar fields.
Cook Inlet down 1.2% May production for Cook Inlet fields, as reported by AOGCC, averaged 16,073 bpd, down 1.22 percent from an April average of 16.271 bpd.
The largest percent increases were at two of the inlet’s smaller fields, the Cook Inlet Energy-operated West McArthur field, which averaged 1,294 bpd in May, up 56.11 percent from an April average of 829 bpd, and the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Beaver Creek field, which averaged 130 bpd in May up 24.76 percent from an April average of 104 bpd.
Production also increased at the Hilcorp-operated McArthur River field, the inlet’s largest, which averaged 4,082 bpd in May, up 0.62 percent from an April average of 4,057 bpd.
All other Cook Inlet fields had month-over-month declines, led by two Hilcorp-operated fields, Trading Bay, which averaged 2,567 bpd in May, down 12.28 percent from an April average of 2,926 bpd, and Swanson River, which averaged 2,002 bpd in May, down 11.99 percent from an April average of 2,275 bpd.
Cook Inlet Energy’s Redoubt Shoal averaged 1,239 bpd in May, down 5.03 percent from an April average of 1,305 bpd; Hilcorp-operated Granite Point averaged 2,725 bpd, down 0.5 percent from an April average of 2,739 bpd; and XTO-operated Middle Ground Shoal averaged 2,033 bpd in May, down 0.14 percent from an April average of 2,036 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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