Apr. 24--Production remains suspended on offshore platforms in Cook Inlet due to continued volcanic activity at Mount Redoubt, on the Inlet's west side, and operating companies now think that it will be difficult to restore production in some of the shut-in wells.

"We anticipate we would have difficulty on a number of wells," when operations are resumed, Roxanne Sinz, spokeswoman for Chevron Corp., said in an April 21 e-mail. "Overall production will be less after the shut-in period as opposed to just before the loss of all oil production."

Chevron still has about 150 people employed on the platforms and onshore support facilities, but "long-term staffing needs during the shut-in mode are still being evaluated," Sinz said.

Chevron operates 10 offshore platforms in Cook Inlet affected by the shutdown. Pacific Energy Resources operates one other platform where production was stopped.

The shutdown, which began April 4, affects about 7,500 barrels per day that would have been produced and transported from the Drift River terminal on the west side of Cook Inlet. The terminal was flooded due to snow and ice-melt at the volcano.

A steam cloud is continuing to issue from Mount Redoubt, although no new eruptions of ash have occurred in recent days.

Sinz said Chevron is investigating alternative ways of storing and loading crude oil produced on platforms at the Trading Bay, Granite Point and McArthur River fields.

Platforms owned and operated by Chevron and Pacific Energy Resources are affected as well as a 20-mile pipeline and the terminal, which are operated by Cook Inlet Pipeline Co., which is also owned by Chevron and Pacific Energy.

Ordinarily oil is stored at Drift River and loaded monthly onto a tanker, which shuttled the oil across Cook Inlet to a Tesoro refinery near Kenai.

Cook Inlet is still producing about 4,000 barrels per day from two platforms operated by XTO Energy, as well as from the Swanson River field on the Kenai Peninsula, operated by Chevron. Oil is delivered from Middle Ground Shoal and Swanson River by pipeline to the Tesoro refinery, thus avoiding the closed Drift River terminal.

There is some concern among state regulators that Chevron may encounter difficulties restarting some of the shut-in wells when operations resume.

Most of the wells affected produce from the Hemlock formation, where the reservoir rock is sturdy and should restart without problems, said Dan Seamount, chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

However, wells in the Granite Point field produce mostly from the Tyonek formation, where there are clays that may crumble during a restart, clogging pores in the rock and impeding the flow of oil, Seamount said.

-----

To see more of the Alaska Journal of Commerce, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.alaskajournal.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Anchorage

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:CVX, Toronto:PFE, Australia:PEA, NYSE:TSO, NYSE:XTO,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.