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Fish & Wildlife issues Apache permit A land use permit will allow Apache to conduct a 3-D seismic survey in CIRI land under the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Alan Bailey Petroleum News
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a special use permit to Apache Alaska Corp., allowing Apache to use surface land in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge to conduct a 3-D seismic survey. The survey, part of a multiyear seismic survey program being conducted by Apache in the Cook Inlet basin, will target subsurface land owned by Cook Inlet Region Inc., or CIRI, under refuge land in the northwestern part of the Kenai Peninsula. Apache has an agreement with CIRI, the Native regional corporation for the Cook Inlet region, for the exploration of CIRI land for oil and gas.
Lisa Parker, Apache Alaska’s manager, government relations, told Petroleum News July 23 that, with the special use permit now having been issued, Apache is excited about the opportunities that a seismic survey on the Kenai Peninsula will present for the company and for CIRI. However, Apache is still working with its contractors to delineate the timing of the survey and has not yet determined a start date, Parker said.
“We know we have a path forward for conducting seismic in that area and we’re working to further define that path now,” Parker said.
The issuance of the special use permit results from a finding by Fish and Wildlife of no significant environmental impact from the planned survey, with that finding based on an environmental assessment for the survey — Fish and Wildlife issued a final version of the environmental assessment on July 3.
Wireless technology According to the environmental assessment the survey, covering an area of about 142,810 acres, will be conducted during the winter and will take three winters to complete. Apache plans to use wireless nodal seismic receivers of the type that the company has employed successfully elsewhere in the Cook Inlet basin. The receivers, each a sealed cylinder five inches in diameter and six inches high, can independently record signals from a seismic sound source while using global positioning system technology and satellite-based timing to accurately position and time the recordings. With no requirement for cabling to connect the nodes to a central recording device, the recording system has minimal environmental impact and does not, for example, require the cutting of seismic trails on land.
The environmental assessment says that ground crews will place the receivers along a grid of lines 1,320 feet apart, with receivers positioned 165 feet apart along each line. Explosives buried in shot holes at depths of at least 15 feet and up to 35 feet will be detonated to generate seismic sound signals. The backfilling of the shot holes with clay material and cuttings will minimize the surface disturbance from the explosions. Shot holes will be located at 165-foot intervals on lines spaced 1,650 feet apart, arranged at right angles to the lines of receivers.
The surveyors will avoid areas where there is potential for wildlife disturbance, such as locations close to salmon streams or owl nests — a plan for the survey will take account of known environmentally sensitive locations, with an environmental field monitor subsequently helping field crews spot any sensitive areas not identified in the plan. A wilderness guide will accompany each field crew. Equipment for the survey will be transported to the survey area by helicopter sling. And snow machines will be the only form of ground transportation used within the survey area, the environmental assessment says.
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