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Friday, 09 January, 2009, 00:40 GMT | more >>

BP's Prudhoe output 'to dip'



By Upstream staff 

BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust said today that the supermajor's Alaskan exploration unit had notified it that 2007 production from the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in Alaska would be below previous forecasts.

The trust said it received a letter saying that estimates show BP's share of production will fall below 90,000 barrels per day, on an average annual basis, beginning in 2007. The unit had previously said it expected BP's share of the output to exceed 90,000 bpd through to 2012.

BP said last year it would replace all of the crude transit pipelines on both sides of the Prudhoe Bay field after severe corrosion in some segments led to a large oil spill in March and forced the partial shutdown of the field in August.

The letter said the production shortfall would be due to infrastructure renewal at the field, a Reuters report said.

Prudhoe Bay produces about 400,000 oil equivalent barrels a day, of which BP owns about a quarter.

BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust was formed in 1989 by BP units Standard Oil and BP Exploration (Alaska) along with the Bank of New York as trustee. The trust receives a royalty on about 16.4% of up to 90,000 bpd of BP's production at the field.


Monday, 05 February, 2007, 23:47 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 05 February, 2007, 23:47 GMT

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