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PRUDHOE BAY FIELD – CORNERSTONE OF NORTH SLOPE Previous HitGASNext Hit RESOURCES

DING, Eric R. and POSPISIL, Gordon, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc, P.O. Box 196612, Anchorage, AK 99519-6612, [email protected]

The Prudhoe Bay field, Alaska is the largest accumulation of Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit in North America. As plans for a Major Previous HitGasNext Hit Sale from the North Slope of Alaska progress, Prudhoe Bay will be the key source of export Previous HitgasNext Hit for the foreseeable future, with approximately 24 TSCF in saleable Previous HitgasNext Hit.

The field has already produced over 11 billion STB of liquid hydrocarbons, well above the initial estimates of 9.6 billion STB per the Plan of Development in 1977. Prudhoe Bay field operations are currently at a mature stage with production wells at high watercuts and Previous HitgasNext Hit-Previous HitoilNext Hit-ratios (GOR's). Waterflood operations cycle over 1.5 million BPD of produced water and Previous HitgasNext Hit cycling operations reinject over 7 billion SCFD of produced Previous HitgasNext Hit. While major Previous HitgasNext Hit sales remain years away pending development of a Previous HitgasNext Hit transportation system, Previous HitgasNext Hit development will support extended field life and significantly increase total hydrocarbon recovery.

This paper presents the development and Previous HitoilNext Hit production history of Prudhoe Bay, along with the reservoir description and a summary of the Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit resources in this super giant field. Over the past 29 years, Prudhoe Bay has seen extensive surface and subsurface development with over 2500 well penetrations, 42 drill sites, and 6 liquid processing centers. With this extensive development, the wells and facilities needed for major Previous HitgasNext Hit sales are largely already in place. As a part of the Previous HitoilNext Hit development activities, vast amounts of reservoir description data in the form of well logs, drilling core, seismic, fluid samples, and analysis have been obtained and interpreted. As a result, the Prudhoe Bay reservoir is well described and well understood. The reservoir description and depletion plans to date fully utilize this information, which supports a comprehensive understanding of the volume and deliverability of the Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit resources.