Prudhoe Bay Oil Field

Prudhoe Bay oil field
Location of Prudhoe Bay oil field
Country	United States
Region	Alaska North Slope
Offshore/onshore	onshore
Coordinates	70°18′24″N 148°43′57″W
Operator	BP
Partners	BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips Alaska
Field history
Discovery	March 12, 1968 by ARCO and Exxon's Prudhoe Bay State #1 well
Start of production	June 20, 1977
Peak of production	1.5 million barrels per day (240,000 m3/d)
Peak year	1988
Production
Current production of oil	547,000 barrels per day (~2.73×10^7 t/a)
Year of current production of oil	2013
Estimated oil in place	25,000 million barrels (~3.4×10^9 t)
Estimated gas in place	26,000×10^9 cu ft (740×10^9 m3)
Producing formations	Sadlerochit

Caribou near Prudhoe Bay, 1973

Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in both the United States and in North America, covering 213,543 acres (86,418 ha) and originally containing approximately 25 billion barrels (4.0×10⁹ m³) of oil. The amount of recoverable oil in the field is more than double that of the next largest field in the United States, the East Texas oil field. The field is operated by BP; partners are ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips Alaska.

Location

The field is located 400 miles (640 km) north of Fairbanks and 650 miles (1,050 km) north of Anchorage, 250 miles (400 km) north of the Arctic Circle, and 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from the North Pole. It is on the North Slope and lies between the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska to the west and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the east.

A map of northern Alaska; the dotted line shows the southern boundary of the North Slope. The National Petroleum Reserve -Alaska is to the West, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the east, and Prudhoe Bay is between them. Red lines are pipelines.

Leasing

The State of Alaska owns the land and leases the area as the Prudhoe Bay Unit. In the terminology that the State of Alaska uses in its leasing program, the "Prudhoe Bay Oil Field" is called the Prudhoe Bay Oil Pool. Oil pools within the Prudhoe Bay Unit include the following - maps showing the location of each pool are in the associated reference.

Pool name	Operator	Discovery well driller	Discovery well start date
Aurora	BP Exploration	Mobil	August 24, 1969
Borealis Pool	BP Exploration	Mobil	August 8, 1969
Lisburne	BP Exploration	Arco	December 16, 1967
Midnight Sun	BP Exploration	BP Exploration	December 20, 1997
Niakuk Ivsh-SR Undef	BP Exploration	BP Exploration	March 10, 2001
Niakuk	BP Exploration	Sohio	April 18, 1985
N Prudhoe Bay	BP Exploration	Arco	April 4, 1970
Orion	BP Exploration	Mobil	April 7, 1969
Polaris	BP Exploration	BP Exploration	August 24, 1969
Pt. McIntyre	BP Exploration	Arco / Exxon	March 22, 1988
Prudhoe	BP Exploration	Arco	December 19, 1967
PM Stump Island	BP Exploration	Arco / Exxon	March 22, 1988
PM Undefined	BP Exploration	BP Exploration	January 25, 1997
Ugnu Undefined WTRSP	BP Exploration	BP Exploration	May 20, 2004
West Beach	BP Exploration	Arco	July 26, 1976
W Beach Tertiary Undef WTR Pool	BP Exploration	Arco / Exxon	July 22, 1976

History

Prudhoe Bay oil fields 1971 FWS

Commercial oil exploration started in Prudhoe Bay area in the 1960s and the field was discovered on March 12, 1968, by Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Humble Oil (which later grew to become Exxon), with the well Prudhoe Bay State #1. ARCO was the operating partner. Drilling sites for the discovery and confirmation wells were staked by geologist Marvin Mangus. BP was among the companies that had been active in the region, and BP was able to establish itself as a major player in the western part of the Prudhoe field. The field was initially operated as two separate developments, the BP Western Operating Area and the ARCO Eastern Operating Area. Upon acquisition of ARCO by BP and sale of ARCO Alaska assets to Phillips Petroleum in 2000, the two operating areas were consolidated and BP became the sole operator of the field. In 1974 the State of Alaska's Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys estimated that the field held 10 billion barrels (1.6×10⁹ m³) of oil and 26 trillion cubic feet (740×10^⁹ m³) of natural gas. Production did not begin until June 20, 1977 when the Alaska Pipeline was completed.

Operations

The field was initially operated as two separate developments, the BP Western Operating Area (WOA: Oil Rim) and the ARCO Eastern Operating Area (EOA: Gas Cap). Upon acquisition of ARCO by BP and sale of ARCO Alaska assets to Phillips Petroleum in 2000, the two operating areas were consolidated and BP became the sole operator of the field.

In the field, oil is moved through pipelines from about 1000 wells, to a pumping station at the head of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline; "flow lines" carry oil from the wells to local processing centers, where they are through "transit lines" to the pumping station.

Production

Cumulative North Slope oil peaked in 1989 at 2 million barrels per day (320×10^³ m³/d) (Greater Prudhoe Bay: 1.5 million barrels per day (240×10^³ m³/d), but had fallen to 943,000 barrels per day (149,900 m³/d) in 2005, while Greater Prudhoe averaged 411,000 barrels per day (65,300 m³/d) in December, 2006 and Prudhoe itself averaged 285,000 barrels per day (45,300 m³/d). Total production from 1977 through 2005 was 11 billion barrels (1.7×10^⁹ m³).

As of August 2006, BP estimated that 2 billion barrels (320×10^⁶ m³) of recoverable oil remain and can be recovered with current technology.

Associated oil fields

Oilfield facilities at Prudhoe Bay.

The Milne Point oil field is 35 miles (56 km) west of Prudhoe Bay and the leased area, called the Milne Point Unit by the State of Alaska, includes the Kuparuk River Oil Pool, Sag River Oil Pool, and the Schrader Bluff Oil Pool.

The source rock for the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field and neighboring reserves is a potential source for tight oil and shale gas. As of 2013 mineral rights to 500,000 acres overlying the North Slope oil shale had been leased by Great Bear Petroleum whose principal is the petroleum geologist Ed Duncan.

Geology

Oil, condensate and gas are produced from the Triassic, Ivishak sandstone. This reservoir was deposited as a complex amalgamation of fan deltas and alluvial fans. The oil is trapped in the Sadlerochit formation, a gravel and sandstone structure nearly 9,000 feet (2,700 m) under the surface. During the field’s early life the oilbearing sandstone in some locations was 600 feet (180 m) thick. Today, the oil bearing zone's average thickness is about 60 feet (18 m).

Statistics

Statistics for the Greater Prudhoe Bay Field:

• Discovery well: Prudhoe Bay State #1
• Discovery date: March 12, 1968
• Production start: June 20, 1977
• Total field area: 213,543 acres (864.18 km²)
• Oil production wells: 1114
• Total capacity: 25 billion barrels (4.0×10⁹ m³)
  • Produced: 12 billion barrels (1.9×10⁹ m³) as of March 28, 2013
  • Total recoverable: 16 billion barrels (2.5×10⁹ m³)
  • Remaining recoverable: 4 billion barrels (640,000,000 m³)
• Peak production: 1.7 million barrels per day (270,000 m³/d) (1979)
• Natural gas:
  • Total: 46×10^¹² cu ft (1,300 km³) (estimated)
  • Recoverable: 26×10^¹² cu ft (740 km³)
• Greater Prudhoe Bay satellite fields:
  • East Operating Area (formerly ARCO)(production start date: 1977)
  • West Operating Area (BP Exploration)(production start date: 1977)
  • Midnight Sun (production start date: 1998)
  • Aurora (production start date: 2000)
  • Orion (production start date: 2002)
  • Polaris (production start date: 1999)
  • Borealis (production start date: 2001)
• Ownership:
  • BP Exploration (Operator): 26%
  • ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.: 36%
  • ExxonMobil: 36%
  • Others: 2%

March 2006 oil spill

Main article: Prudhoe Bay oil spill

On March 2, 2006, a worker for BP Exploration (Alaska) discovered a large oil spill in western Prudhoe Bay. Up to 267,000 US gallons (1,010 m³) were spilled, making it the largest oil spill on Alaska's north slope to date. The spill was attributed to a pipeline rupture.

According to King 5, BP paid a $20 million fine for the spill. On November 3, 2008, BP issued a response to King 5 the report stating that they "had no record that any concerns about corrosion leading to an oil transit line breach in the foreseeable future ever were communicated to BP."

August 2006 shutdown

The March 2006 oil spill led the United States Department of Transportation to mandate that the transit lines be inspected for corrosion. As a result, BP announced on 6 August 2006 they had discovered severe corrosion, with losses of 70 to 81 percent in the 3/8-inch thickness of the pipe walls. Oil leaking was reported in one area, with the equivalent of four to five barrels of oil spilled. The damage required replacement of 16 of 22 miles (35 km) of pipeline at the Prudhoe Bay. BP said it was surprised to find such severe corrosion and that it had been 14 years since they had used a pipeline inspection gauge ("pig") to clean out its lines because the company believed the use of the pigging equipment might damage pipe integrity. BP Exploration announced that they were shutting down the oil field indefinitely, due to the severe corrosion and a minor leak in the oil transit lines. This led to an 8% reduction in the amount of oil produced by the United States, as Prudhoe Bay is the country's largest oil producer, producing over 400,000 barrels per day (64,000 m³/d).

BP initially estimated up to 2 to 3 months before the pipelines would be fully operational. This caused increases in world oil prices, and BP revised the estimated operational date to January 2007. London brent crude hit an intra-day high of $77.73/barrel, the all-time high, at that time, being $78.18/barrel. United States crude oil peaked at $76.67/barrel. The state of Alaska, which gets most of its revenue from taxing the oil industry, lost as much as $6.4 million each day until production restarted.

No part of the Alaska Pipeline was affected, although Alyeska said that lower crude oil volumes could slow pumping during the BP shutdown.

The field has since reopened. In mid-June 2007, however, a small leak occurred in one of the pipelines that connect the field to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, shutting down the field for a week.

In March 2009 the State of Alaska sued BP in matter number 3AN-09-06181-CI alleging that BP was negligent in its management of rigging operations and corrosion control in the transit lines leading from the field into pumping station one of the Trans Alaska Pipeline. The state is seeking damages for lost royalty and tax revenues. The matter is still being disputed.

Further reading

• Sweet, John M. (2008). Discovery at Prudhoe Bay. Blaine, Washington: Hancock House. pp. 312 p. ISBN 978-0-88839-630-3. 

See also

• Ice Road Truckers

External links

• Milne Point goes mainstream. Inc. oilfield (Alaska Business Monthly, April, 1995.)
• Prudhoe Bay, Alaska Aerial photos from the Prudhoe Bay area, July 2010