Plan for seismic survey off Colville Delta

A joint venture between SA Exploration and Kuukpik Corp., the Native corporation for the village of Nuiqsut, is planning to conduct a 3-D seismic survey in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea offshore the Colville River delta this summer, Rick Trupp, general manager of SA Exploration, told the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Arctic Open Water Meeting on March 6. The survey, which would use state-of-the-art wireless nodal technology, with seismic receiver nodes placed on the seafloor, will be a non-exclusive program for multiple oil and gas leaseholders in the area, Trupp said.

The involvement of Kuukpik in the operation brings the benefit of local knowledge when planning and conducting the survey while also bringing economic benefits to the North Slope, Trupp said. In addition, most of the management team from SA Exploration has worked for a number years on Alaska seismic programs, he said. And, the company has established a strong group of local people to work as Inupiat communicators, subsistence advisors and marine mammal observers.

The plan is to mobilize the vessels needed for the survey in early July and conduct the survey between July 25 and Sept. 15, he said. The survey would involve a the use two seismic source vessels, two vessels for laying the seismic nodes, and a couple of bow-pickers to pick up equipment in the nearshore environment; a mitigation vessel would operate around the margins of the survey area, helping with a marine mammal monitoring program; a supply vessel would operate from the nearby Oliktok Point.

Protected species observers on the source vessels and the mitigation vessel would provide a continuous 24-hour watch for marine mammals.

—Alan Bailey