SAExploration plans Beaufort surveys

SAExploration Inc. in partnership with Kuukpik Corp., the village corporation for the village of Nuiqsut, is planning to conduct three 3-D seismic surveys straddling state and federal waters of the Beaufort Sea during this summer’s Arctic open water season. According to a plan of operations filed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management the surveys will take place in two areas: Smith Bay, off the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, and an area referred to as “Islands 3D,” around barrier islands offshore the central North Slope, from east of the Northstar unit to north of the Badami unit, and covering the Liberty unit. The Smith Bay surveying will encompass an area of about 89 square miles, while the Islands 3-D surveying will cover about 593 square miles, the plan of operations says. BOEM has issued a permit for the federal outer continental shelf components of the surveys.

The surveying will involve the use of autonomous recording nodes laid on the seafloor, without the need for ocean floor cabling. A submerged air gun towed by a vessel will provide the sound source for the seismic signals.

SAExploration says that the purpose of the surveying is to replace and augment existing seismic datasets through the use of new seismic technology for the gathering of improved quality, higher resolution seismic data.

The company says that it anticipates the surveying to commence as soon as the region to be surveyed is free of ice, probably in mid July, and will be completed in October. The data acquisition will likely last for about 70 days. The anticipated timeframe accommodates the need to cease operations during subsistence whale hunts and the possibility of unanticipated interruptions in the work.

A Mapmakers Alaska map was used in researching this story.

- ALAN BAILEY