NMFS OKs incidental take for Eni, Hilcorp

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The National Marine Fisheries Service has approved applications from Hilcorp Alaska and Eni US Operating allowing issuance of letters of authorization for the incidental taking of small numbers of marine mammals incidental to ice road and ice trail construction, maintenance and operation on Alaska’s North Slope from 2020-25.

In a Dec. 22 Federal Register notice the agency said the takes authorized would be incidental to ice roads and ice trails construction and maintenance.

“Hilcorp and Eni plan to conduct necessary work, including use of heavy machinery on ice, to facilitate access to North Slope offshore oil and gas facilities. The action may incidentally expose marine mammals occurring in the vicinity to elevated levels of sound, human presence on ice habitat, and interactions with heavy machinery, thereby resulting in incidental take, by Level A and Level B harassment and serious injury or mortality,” the agency said in the Federal Register notice.

Hilcorp conducts oil and gas operations at Northstar production facility and Eni conducts oil and gas operations at Spy Island drill site.

Hilcorp constructs annual ice roads and trails allowing access between West Dock at Prudhoe Bay and Northstar, while Eni constructs annual ice roads and trails between the Oliktok production pad and the Spy Island drill site. Eni also builds an annual ice road from shore to the Oooguruk drill site.

Hilcorp’s Northstar ice road is built to transport personnel, equipment, materials and supplies, and allows standard vehicles to be used, but depending on operational needs and weather, in some years Hilcorp may build only a primary ice trail which can support only tracked, lighter-weight vehicles.

Eni builds a single ice road and three ice pads each year, with two floating ice pads used for parking areas at Spy Island and one grounded ice pad at the Oliktok Point end of the ice road.

On Jan. 17, 2020, NMFS published a proposed rule and regulations to govern takes of marine mammals incidental to Hilcorp and Eni’s ice roads and trails construction and maintenance, requesting comments.

NMFS made some changes in response to comments, including revised buffers for seal avoidance and an additional monitoring and reporting measure requiring Hilcorp and Eni to engage local hunters through the Ice Seal Committee to gather recommendations on methods for ringed seal detection along sea ice roads and trails and incorporate the recommendations into training materials for personnel and “include the methods used for detection of seals and seal structures with an assessment of their effectiveness in the final reports.”