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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
March 2010

Vol. 15, No. 10 Week of March 07, 2010

Pioneer launches probe into complaints

Rumors of Pioneer Natural Resources mishandling fluids at its northern Alaska Oooguruk oil field stem from two complaints; one anonymous and the other from an employee. They were received by the company on Feb. 19 and Feb. 22.

In response, Pioneer launched an internal investigation and informed three regulatory agencies about the complaints — the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The internal investigation is being handled by a team of engineers, regulatory compliance and health, safety and environment experts from the company’s Texas office, none of whom are part of Pioneer’s normal Alaska operations, J. Patrick Foley, Pioneer’s manager of land and external affairs in Alaska, told Petroleum News March 4.

The team landed in Alaska on March 1, and immediately began theinvestigation into complaints about "production, pipeline and waste handling procedures" at the Beaufort Sea oil field. The results will be shared with regulatory agencies, Foley said.

“We take any kind of complaint deadly serious,” he said. “We are proud of our operation at Oooguruk and of our relationship of transparency with the agencies.”

The complaints, he said, “do not pertain to a spill.”

The investigation, which is still under way, will take as long as it takes: “We’re striving to have a comprehensive investigation; we’re not operating on a firm calendar,” Foley said. So far, Pioneer's investigators have "not found any merit to the allegations as currently understood," he said.

Previously, whistleblower Chuck Hamel complained about Pioneer’s 2003 drilling waste disposal from an exploration well on an ice island offshore Harrison Bay, in what is now part of Oooguruk.

ADEC investigated that incident. Pioneer was able to prove the alleged “dumping” was actually an accidental spill that was properly contained and cleaned. In a letter following the conclusion of its investigation ADEC said the site did not pose a threat to human health, safety or welfare or the environment.

A subsequent EPA investigation resulted in no action against Pioneer.

—Kay Cashman






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