North Slope oil production holds steady as two new ConocoPhillips projects ramp up

North Slope oil production is holding steady and is set for an increase in January with two new ConocoPhilllips projects ramping up.

ConocoPhillips started production Dec. 12 at GMT-2, an accumulation in the National Petroleum Reserve west of the Alpine field, and on Dec. 14, the company began sustained production at Narwhal, an oil accumulation extending south of the Alpine field.

As production from both projects is gradually throttled up there will be an increase in total slope production through the spring.

The Prudhoe Bay field in northern Alaska showed continued production increases in December, year-over-year, while other North Slope fields lagged mostly due to natural decline.

While overall slope production held steady, Prudhoe Bay, operated by Houston-based major independent Hilcorp Energy, saw an increase, averaging 326,262 barrels per day in December, up from 311,172 barrels per day on average the same month a year earlier and 295,417 barrels per day on average in December, 2019.

Other fields on the slope, including Kuparuk River, second largest on the slope and the smaller Lisburne field, showed declines.

The Alpine field west of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River showed a small increase in December thanks to the two new ConocoPhillips projects which produce oil into Alpine field processing plants and are counted as part of that field’s production total.

Overall production from the North Slope in December averaged 501,741 b/d, basically on par a 500,020 barrels per day average in December 2020 but down somewhat from a 510,271 b/d averaged in December 2019.

GMT-2 is approximately 25 miles west of Alpine and is connected to expected to pipeline and field infrastructure through two other ConocoPhillips projects in the petroleum reserve, GMT-1 and CD-5, which are both producing. GMT-2 is expected to peak at 30,000 barrels per day.

The NPR-A is a large 23-million-acre federal enclave on the western North Slope that has seen extensive exploration over several decades but commercial discoveries only in recent years.

Narwhal, like the Alpine field, is on state lands east of the NPR-A.

Narwhal is being initially produced through horizontal production wells drilled from an existing production pad, CD-4, in the Alpine field.

ConocoPhillips has not released a production estimate for Narwhal but the company reported that its initial well will peak at 1,000 barrels per day to 5,000 barrels per day, and 20 to 40 wells and a new stand-alone production pad will be needed to fully develop the project.

Narwhal’s reservoir extends 30 miles south of the Alpine field and is about three mile wide. It is estimated to hold 100 million to 350 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to Petroleum News, an Alaska industry publication, which quoted industry sources.

The deposit is in the Nanushuck geologic formation and is near Pikka, a larger discovery, also in the Nanushuck formation, that is now planned for development by Australia-based Santos and Repsol, based in Spain.

Meanwhile, a third ConocoPhillips project in the Alpine field is expected to begin production by mid-year. It is Fiord West, an undeveloped accumulation in the field being developed with long-distance horizontal wells also from an existing production pad.

Fiord West had expected to be in production in early spring 2022 but was delayed by problems in drilling the horizontal wells, some pf which are seven miles from the surface location of the drill rig.

A larger ConocoPhillips project, Willow, is on hold pending resolution of issues stemming from lawsuits filed by conservation and tribal groups. A U.S. District Court judge in Anchorage voided permits issued by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The company is now negotiating with the BLM on ways the legal issues can be resolved. If that happens a new federal Environmental Impact Statement will be needed, which will result in further delays for Willow.

ConocoPhillips had hoped to have construction underway thus year and production in 2025 or 2026. That schedule will now be extended.