Alaska's production falls 4.4% in August

Oslo :  Alaskan oil production in August fell 4.4 per cent from a year earlier as maintenance curbed output from BP Plc's Northstar field for most of the month and other areas returned to service after work in July.

Production averaged 550,252 barrels a day (bpd) last month, compared with 575,777 barrels a day in August 2009, according to the Alaska Tax Division.

Output was little changed from July, when production averaged 550,410 barrels a day. The last time output in Alaska posted a year-on-year gain was in 2002, state records show.

Alaska's daily stockpiles of crude averaged 1.71 million barrels, a drop from 1.78 million a year earlier and down from 2.77 million in July, the tax division said.

Production from oilfields in Alaska operated by BP drops during July through August as operators take advantage of warmer weather and higher temperatures in the region to conduct maintenance.

Oil output was curbed last month for work in the Northstar field that lasted July 26 through August 20.

Production from Alaskan fields is carried by the 1,300-kilometre Trans Alaska Pipeline System, which extends from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in the US.