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BP plans seismic in Canadian Beaufort
Gary Park For Petroleum News
A year after rolling the dice in the Canadian Beaufort Sea, BP has served notice it will conduct a three-dimensional seismic program this summer.
It told the National Energy Board that its Pokak 3-D program will cover a minimum 466 square miles and, if ice and weather conditions permit, could be expanded to 596 square miles.
The work involves two 100-percent-owned Exploration Licenses, which BP acquired last year for work commitments of almost C$1.2 billion, including a record C$1.18 billion for EL 449.
Although no cost estimate has been disclosed, BP said CGGVeritas, using the Norwegian-registered seismic vessel Viking Vision, is expected to carry out the seismic work within a 90-day period from late July to October.
The company told the NEB it expects to take advantage of the short operations season by gathering the seismic data for 24 hours a day.
If conditions are unfavorable, BP plans to return to the Beaufort in the same period of 2010.
Water depths for the base seismic targets range from 230 feet to 345 feet, while an expanded program area has water depths of 197 feet to 426 feet.
Should ice or weather conditions prevent or limit the program, BP is proposing an optional 3-D or 2-D program, with the 2-D data supplementing available industry data gathered from existing BP leases and Significant Discovery Licenses.
Assessment under way The NEB is currently conducting an environmental assessment of the program, taking into account public responses.
So far the Inuvialuit Renewable Resource Committee has concluded the proposed program would have no significant impact on the environment or on Inuvialuit wildlife harvesting, but Ecojustice (previously the Sierra Legal Defense Fund) said in a letter to the NEB on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund-Canada that it is concerned that the sound of air guns could upset the behavior of beluga and bowhead whales, causing temporary or permanent hearing loss.
BP said last year it acquired the Beaufort licenses to grow and add to its “business development activities” and viewed the frontier region as a chance to improve North America’s energy supply and enhance security.
During an exploration period in the 1970s and 1980s, when Canadian government grants covered up to 80 percent of well costs by companies owned at least 75 percent by Canadians, the major discovery occurred in 1984 when Gulf Canada Resources (since acquired by ConocoPhillips) estimated its Amauligak discovery contained 350 million barrels of oil and 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
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