Canada’s NEB sets terms of Arctic review

Gary Park

For Petroleum News

A review of Arctic offshore drilling by Canada’s National Energy Board will put the emphasis on how companies can drill safely while protecting the environment and how they will respond in the case of spills.

But the limited scope of the review and the absence of a timeline to complete the process are already coming under attack, with veteran frontier analyst Ian Doig suggesting the review will deal only with “motherhood” issues.

He said the federal regulator has sidestepped topics such as whether companies will transport any oil they develop by tanker or pipeline, pointing to a “coziness” between the NEB and industry.

Doig told the Globe and Mail that the expanded scope of the review, based on input from more than 100 individuals, organizations and governments following the Gulf of Mexico blowout, is “disappointing.”

The NEB has scheduled hearings with northern aboriginal groups this fall and will incorporate into its recommendations the results of the United States government’s commission into the BP Deepwater Horizon incident.

But the regulator said only that it is “committed to take the time necessary to do this right,” giving no indication when its findings will be released.

The review will deal only with the Arctic offshore, ignoring pressure to include the British Columbia and Atlantic coasts.

Nor will it deal with a request from Fisheries and Oceans Canada to examine the diplomatic consequences of a spill and will not cover the costs of groups planning to intervene in the review.

The NEB said it will examine the “effectiveness and reliability of options for regaining well control, including relief wells.”

It will also: weigh the effectiveness of spill containment and cleanup options and who will pay for those operations; examine the “state of knowledge” on the physical and biological environment of the Arctic offshore; and take into account what is known about the “long-term impacts of a spill on the environment, way of life and communities in Canada’s Arctic.”

Imperial Oil, the lead partner in the Mackenzie Gas Project and one of the major leaseholders in the Beaufort Sea, said it needs time to assess the review agenda before commenting.