No North Slope tundra openings yet

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has begun assessing snow conditions and soil temperatures on the North Slope, with all state-owned lands remaining closed to off-road travel.

Pre-packing, however, has been approved for a number of projects within the coastal areas, DNR said, and for two projects in the lower foothills, one location just south of Deadhorse and another in the Kuparuk drill site 2P, Meltwater, area.

DNR said its assessment was complete as of Dec. 4.

The target for all areas is a soil temperature of minus 5 degrees C (23 degrees F) at a depth of 1 foot (30 centimeters), with 9 inches of snow required for the foothills tundra opening and 6 inches required for coastal area openings.

DNR said soil temperatures were starting to drop through 0 degrees C at most monitoring stations and one station within the eastern coastal area has met the minus 5 degree C requirement.

The western coastal area and the upper foothills area have met snow depth requirements and snow depths have been reached at all but one monitoring station in the eastern coastal area. Three stations in the lower foothills have yet to meet the 9-inch requirement for that area.

DNR staff will be on the North Slope the week of Dec. 8, with the next off-road travel status report scheduled for about Dec. 12.

- Petroleum News