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Slight ANS production drop from November Alaska North Slope crude oil production averaged 622,356 barrels per day in December, down 0.4% from 624,687 bpd in November Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Alaska North Slope crude oil production dropped slightly, by 0.37 percent, from November to December. ANS averaged 622,356 barrels per day in December, down from 624,687 bpd in November.
ANS production in December of 2010 was 641,518 bpd, so ANS production is down 3 percent year-over-year.
December production was down from November at Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk and Alpine, and up at Endicott and Lisburne.
Except where noted, production 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.
The BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay field averaged 360,275 bpd in December, down 0.38 percent from 361,656 bpd in November, a drop averaging 1,381 bpd. Prudhoe Bay includes the field’s satellites — Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Orion and Polaris — along with Northstar, an offshore field north of Prudhoe and Milne Point, a field to the west of Prudhoe, all operated by BP.
Revenue has recently combined Prudhoe, Northstar and Milne Point in its reporting; a combined production number for the three fields for December of 2010 was 380,673 bpd, so combined production is down 5.4 percent year-over-year.
Kuparuk also down slightly December production at the ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 136,586 bpd in December, down 0.33 percent from a November average of 137,038 bpd but up 5.6 percent from December 2010 production averaging 129,323 bpd.
Kuparuk production includes satellites at Tabasco, Tarn and Meltwater, as well as West Sak production. Also included is production from the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field and from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field.
Total monthly production on a field-by-field and pool-by-pool data is reported by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The most recent data available from the commission is for November and shows a total of 163,482 barrels from Nikaitchuq, some 5,449 bpd, and 171,421 barrels from Oooguruk, some 5,714 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field averaged 78,674 bpd in December, down 2.5 percent from November production of 80,710 bpd and down 9.2 percent from December 2010 production averaging 86,646 bpd. Alpine includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
Endicott production up The BP-operated Endicott field, averaging 13,135 bpd in December, was up 9.24 percent from a November average of 12,024 bpd, and up 2.4 percent from a December 2010 average of 12,831 bpd. Endicott includes production from Badami on the eastern side of the North Slope, where production was started up again in November 2010. Commission figures for November show total production at Badami of 33,634 barrels, or some 1,121 bpd.
The BP-operated Lisburne field, part of greater Prudhoe Bay, averaged 33,686 bpd in December, up 1.28 percent from a November average of 33,259 bpd, and up 5.12 percent from a December 2010 average of 32,045 bpd. Lisburne production includes Point McIntyre and Niakuk.
Cook Inlet down 5 percent Revenue no longer reports Cook Inlet production.
Commission figures for November show a total of 308,153 barrels from eight Cook Inlet fields, an average of some 10,272 bpd, down 5.2 percent from an October average of 10,832 bpd from the same fields (Beaver Creek, Granite Point, McArthur River, Middle Ground Shoal, Swanson River, Trading Bay and West McArthur River).
Only three Cook Inlet fields averaged more than a thousand barrels a day in November: Granite Point, 1,946 bpd; McArthur River, 3,994 bpd; and Middle Ground Shoal, 2,312 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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