Ion cancels Beaufort Sea seismic survey

Ion Geophysical has cancelled its planned early winter seismic survey in the Beaufort Sea because of an engine problem with the seismic vessel that was going to conduct the survey, Joe Gagliardi, Ion’s director, Arctic solutions and technology, told Petroleum News Oct. 11.

The company had been planning to carry out a regional scale 2-D survey along the entire length of the Alaska Beaufort Sea, using a new technique that enables the surveying to be done in the presence of sea ice. The survey would have taken place between early October and mid-December, thus avoiding conflicts with other offshore activities such as subsistence whale hunting.

But the engine problem in the seismic vessel resulted in a loss of power, rendering the vessel unable to proceed with the survey, Gagliardi said.

—Alan Bailey