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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
July 2019

Vol. 24, No.28 Week of July 14, 2019

Kalubik Creek exploration site cleanup includes piling removal

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Final cleanup is scheduled this summer for an exploration well drilled some 50 years ago with the debris removal plan, prepared by Weston Solutions Inc. for Chevron Environmental Management Co., targeting surface debris, including 55-gallon drums and wooden pilings from a drilling platform.

Unocal drilled the exploration well, Kalubik Creek No. 1, in the winter of 1970. The site is in the Kuparuk River unit between the Palm prospect and Drill Site 3H. Chevron Environmental Management Co. is involved because Unocal, Union Oil Company of California, was acquired by Chevron in 2005.

While there was an ice pad and access via an ice road, there was no gravel pad, instead, the plan prepared for CEMC by Weston Solutions says, “the drilling rig was set on a wooden deck supported by pilings.”

Kalubik Creek No. 1 was spud Dec. 16, 1969, completed and suspended March 27, 1970, and plugged and abandoned May 4, 1973.

Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission records show the well, a vertical hole, reached a total measured and vertical depth of 10,107 feet.

Work done to date

The plan says the reserve pit at the well was capped and closed in the winter of 2002-03, work approved by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in late 2004.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required that the overburden cap on the reserve pit be vegetated and monitored for 10 years or until performance standards were met.

Performance monitoring continued through 2015, the plan says, with debris observed in the vicinity of the reserve pit in a 2015 inspection by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, CEMC and Weston Solutions.

DEC and DNR requested field investigations of the debris, which were conducted in 2017 and 2018, and the report says that based on investigation and remediation activities to date, “final removal of various historical debris present at the site, including debris discovered in 2015,” is the only remaining activity anticipated at the site.

“The debris types associated with the affected areas generally included abandoned 55-gallon drums along with various cans, canisters, wooden pilings, metal parts, plastics, plywood, and pallets.”

The report says small oily sheens were also reported on surface water, and surface water was sampled in 2017, with laboratory analysis results “within the range typically found in North Slope ponds,” and as a result no further remedial action is required “beyond the drum and debris remedial.”

Following a site investigation in 2018, which included geophysical surveys, results indicated that the reserve pit appeared stable, with encapsulated waste frozen in place.

2019 work plan

There are seasonal restrictions for debris removal activities at Kalubik Creek and based on investigations debris removal activities are planned for July or August when tundra and surface water bodies are typically thawed. Access will be by helicopter and track mounted Tucker vehicles.

Debris site 1 is a shallow pond some 350 feet northwest of the well marker, with known debris including some 55 empty drums within the pond, and various cans, canisters, metal parts, plastics, wood pallets and plywood. Previous investigation has shown that none of the drums contain original contents, all are in poor condition, rusted and contain holes.

Debris site 2 is a thermokarsted pond some 400 feet south of the well marker. Known debris includes four rusted, perforated drums and heavy gauge wire.

The cement mound is some 10 feet west of the well marker, with known debris including gravel, cement cobbles, pieces of dimensional lumber, nails and ash.

Some 200 wooden pilings were used to support the drill rig platform. They were cut to approximately tundra grade in 1998, but many have been pushed to some 18 inches above tundra grade by seasonal ice formation.






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