North Slope production held steady in April; Dip in output at Prudhoe Bay offset by increase at Alpine field

Among the major producing fields on the slop, the Prudhoe Bay field was down in April to an average of 307,023 b/d from 314,529 barrels per day in March. Prudhoe was also down year-over-year. In April, 2022 the field produced 314,831 barrels per day on average, compared with 307,023 barrels per day in April 2023.

Prudhoe Bay is watched closely because it is the largest field on the slope, producing most of the approximate 500,000 barrels per day moved through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System daily. The field is operated by Houston-based independent Hilcorp Energy.

Hilcorp has been able to keep Prudhoe Bay production steady even as other North Slope fields declined through a strategy of aggressive field maintenance and repairs and stimulation of aging wells. That can only be done for so long, however, and more recently the company has started to drill new production wells.

Prudhoe’s decline in April was offset, however, by an increase in the Alpine field operated by ConocoPhillips. Alpine had been declining but in April saw a production average of 51,913 barrels per day, up from 47,899 barrels per day on average in March. ConocoPhillips is now getting the benefit of new projects at Alpine, such as GMT-2 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which ships its crude oil through the Alpine field for processing.

New production wells are still being drilled at GMT-2, which will increase production later this year. ConocoPhillips also expects new production from Fiord West, which is in the Alpine field area, and Narwhal, which is south of Alpine but with its oil processed in the Alpine facilities.

Meanwhile, production held roughly steady at two other North Slope fields. The Kuparuk River field, also operated by ConocoPhillips, averaged 100,605 b/d in April, roughly on par with 100,842 b/d on average in March. Lisburne, a smaller field operated by Hilcorp, averaged 20,899 barrels per day in April compared with 20,563 barrels per day in March.

Meanwhile, a new North Slope development is a series of small oil discoveries about 20 miles south of the Prudhoe Bay field and near the Dalton Highway, an all-year state highway that connects the North Slope to Interior Alaska highways.

U.K.-based Pantheon Resources had announced a discovery earlier at Talitha #1 exploration well and conducted flow tests through horizontal test wells last winter and this spring. The tests have now been concluded but Pantheon has not yet released results pof said whether it will move into development.

A related development is that 88 Energy, an Australia-based explorer, said it discovered hydrocarbons near Pantheon’s projects in its Hickory #1 test well drilled this spring. It was also near the Dalton Highway and adjacent to Pantheon’s leases. 88 Energy will wait until winter to do a production test.

Pantheon said but has also entered into a data-exchange agreement with 88 Energy, whose discovery appears to be in the same reservoir formations where Pantheon found oil at Talitha #1. This implies the reservoirs may be connected.

During its long-term flow test Pantheon used a small, mobile oil processing unit to remove gas and water from raw crude oil, and then trucking the crude oil to Prudhoe Bay for injection into the Trans Alaska Pipeline System.

Pantheon has said it is studying the concept of building similar mobile process units, and a larger trucking operation, if the project can move into commercial production. The proximity of 88 Energy’s discovery in the area will enhance prospects for the area as well as the location of both discoveries ner the Dalton Highway, which simplifies logistic support.

On other matters, ConocoPhillips has given no target date yet for a Final Investment Decision on the $8 billion Willow oil project in the National Petroleum Reserve west of the Alpine field. The assumption now is that the company will wait for a clearer picture of how U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason will rule in lawsuits filed by conservation groups seeking to block the project.

Gleason ruled against a request by the litigants for an injunction stopping certain winter prepatory work, and the U.S. Ninth District Court of Appeals upheld the District Court. Getting that work, mainly preparation for gravel roads, done in the remaining weeks of the North Slope winter season was important.

It’s now spring on the slope, so ConocoPhillips has halted most work on the tundra land surface and wait until next winter to resume major outdoor activity. That assumes a positive decision from the Alaska District Court on the lawsuits. An 8-mile gravel road was completed from GMT-2 to the Willow site before the spring halt.

If Willow construction is ultimately approved it will add about 180,000 barrels per day to North Slope production at peak, after production begins in 2029. Pikka, another North Slope project now in construction, will add 80,000 barrels per day to new production starting in 2026, and another 40,000 barrels per day if a second phase is approved for Pikka.

Pikka is being developed by Australia-based Santos, Ltd. and Repsol, based in Madrid.