The Kuparuk River Oil Field, or Kuparuk, located in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States, is the second largest oil field in North America by area. It started production in 1982, peaking in 1992. As of 2019, it produced approximately of oil for ConocoPhillips and has been estimated to have of recoverable oil reserves.Kuparuk oil field from mtri.org It is named for the Kuparuk River.
Production history In April 1969 Sinclair Oil discovered oil at the Ugnu Number 1 well, named for the nearby Ugnuravik River.Petroleum News. Kuparuk discovery made by Sinclair at Ugnu No. 1 Oil was found in the Kuparuk sandstone on the Colville structure.Sweet, J.M., 2008, Discovery at Prudhoe Bay, Blaine: Hancock House, , pp. 162-163
In 1979 ARCO announced first production, and planned to start in 1982. Production actually began December 13, 1981, on five small gravel drilling pads. Oil recovery was expected to peak in 1986 at , but did not peak until 1992 at from 371 wells.Petroleum News. Production begins 3 months early - Kuparuk comes online in December ’81 from 5 gravel drill sites in 20-mile square ARCO-owned area.
In December 2002, the production averaged from 448 wells, but by September 2016 the average declined to . For the first six months of 2017 production averaged with a water cut of 87.4 percent. During the first half of 2019 the pool averaged with a water cut of 88.7 percent.
See also Prudhoe Bay Oil Field Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System Tarn Oil Field Willow project
References
Further reading Jamison, H.C., Brockett, L.D., and McIntosh, R.A., 1980, Prudhoe Bay - A 10-Year Perspective, in Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade: 1968-1978, AAPG Memoir 30, Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, .
External links USGS report on the Oil and Gas Resources of the Arctic Alaska Petroleum Province