Santos plans to hold Pikka oil field near 70,000 barrels a day after two curtailments

Santos plans to hold output at its North Slope Pikka field near 70,000 barrels a day for a period before ramping to its 80,000-barrel target, according to the company's 2026 Third Quarter Report, dated Oct. 22. Santos said the hold lets water injection replenish what it calls reservoir voidage.

"This is a deliberate decision, and part of our disciplined approach to reservoir management," Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said in the report. The report does not say how long the hold will last.

The setbacks cost Santos part of its forecast. The company narrowed its 2026 production outlook to 99 million to 102 million barrels of oil equivalent, a measure that counts gas and oil together, from an earlier range of 99 million to 105 million. Santos named Pikka as the main cause, citing a delay commissioning its seawater treatment plant and two curtailments.

Pikka briefly topped 80,000 barrels a day before the quarter ended Sept. 30, Santos said. Output was then curtailed after a weather event affected the seawater plant, which was still starting up. At the end of September, with 15 production wells and six injection wells online, Pikka was producing about 69,000 barrels a day, up from about 23,000 at the end of June.

The second curtailment came after the quarter ended, according to the report's Alaska section, when a third-party road accident impacted the Kuparuk pipeline. The pipeline's operator cut flow through the line and suspended gas deliveries to Pikka during required integrity checks. Production has since resumed and ramped back up, Santos said.

Alaska News reported May 19 that Pikka had begun producing oil and was expected to add about 80,000 barrels a day to state output. The first cargo, 450,000 barrels, was loaded aboard the Polar Resolution at Valdez in August.

On Sept. 2, Santos said in a release on seawater injection that water from the treatment plant began moving Aug. 18 through a pipeline of about 75 kilometers from the Beaufort Sea, and injection into the reservoir began Aug. 26. Output was then about 40,000 barrels a day, and the company was targeting the 80,000-barrel plateau at the end of the third quarter.

Of 32 development wells drilled, 28 have been stimulated and 26 flowed back, which Santos says is in line with pre-drill expectations. Santos' share of Alaska crude was about 1 million barrels in the quarter, up from 72,000 in the second quarter.

Santos operates Pikka with a 51% stake; Repsol holds the remaining 49%.