With the completion of scheduled summer maintenance on Alaska's North Slope, crude oil production was up 29.5 percent in September from August, averaging 516,296 barrels per day, compared to 398,642 bpd.
The increase was led by the Slope's largest field, the BP Exploration (Alaska)-operated Prudhoe Bay, which averaged 271,444 bpd in September, up 53.2 percent from an August average of 177,182 bpd. Prudhoe Bay includes satellite production from Aurora, Borealis, Orion and Polaris, as well as production from the Milne Point and Northstar fields, also operated by BP.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska-operated Alpine field averaged 73,997 bpd in September, an increase of 33.6 percent from an August average of 55,369 bpd. Alpine production includes satellite production from Fiord, Nanuq and Qannik.
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.
Slopewide increase
All North Slope production as reported by the Tax Division increased from August to September.
The BP-operated Lisburne field averaged 29,705 bpd in September, up 14 percent from an August average of 26,059 bpd. Lisburne, which includes production from Niakuk and Point McIntyre, is part of Greater Prudhoe Bay.
The BP-operated Endicott field averaged 10,886 bpd in September, up 0.9 percent from an August average of 10,791 bpd. Endicott includes production from the Savant-operated Badami field.
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, AOGCC, reports production by field and pool on a month-delay basis and in August Badami averaged 1,421 bpd, up 4.5 percent from a July average of 1,359 bpd.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Kuparuk River field averaged 130,264 bpd in September, up 0.8 percent from an August average of 129,241 bpd. Kuparuk includes satellite production from Tabasco, Tarn, Meltwater and West Sak, as well as volumes from the Eni-operated Nikaitchuq field and the Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska-operated Oooguruk field.
AOGCC data for August shows an average of 9,023 bpd for Nikaitchuq, an increase of 11.9 percent from a July average of 8,061 bpd, and August production averaging 7,194 bpd for Oooguruk, an increase of 5.3 percent from a July average of 6,832 bpd.
Cook Inlet
AOGCC data for Cook Inlet shows an August average of 11,000 bpd, up 4.5 percent from a July average of 10,530 bpd.
Cook Inlet crude oil production comes from the Beaver Creek, Granite Point, McArthur River, Middle Ground Shoal, Redoubt Shoal, Swanson River, Trading Bay and West McArthur River fields.
Only three of those fields have production of more than 1,000 bpd: the Hilcorp Alaska-operated Granite Point field averaged 2,274 bpd in August, up 2.3 percent from a July average of 2,222 bpd; the Hilcorp-managed McArthur River field averaged 4,217 bpd in August, up 6.8 percent from a July average of 3,948 bpd; and the XTO-managed Middle Ground Shoal field averaged 2,329 bpd in August, up 0.4 percent from a July average of 2,320 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.
By Kristen Nelson
Petroleum News