Still two seasons for ANWR 1002 3-D seismic; no chance this winter

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

The very slim chance of a 3-D seismic survey being shot this winter in the ANWR 1002 area (see Feb. 17 issue of Petroleum News) has slipped to no chance, but the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is still going to allow two consecutive winter seasons to do the work, rather than just the one winter season remaining on the initial proposed authorization.

Instead of starting the shoot this winter and finishing at the end of the second winter season in spring 2020, the new proposed Marine Mammal Protection Act incidental take regulation permit will allow seismic contractor SAExploration to begin its program as early as December 2020 and finish in the spring of 2021.

There is other valuable geologic information coming from Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey that will help bidders in the upcoming ANWR 1002 fall lease sale to better understand the oil potential of the region, per the Feb. 17 Petroleum News report, but new 3-D will not be possible this season, SAExploration’s top executive Jeff Hastings told Petroleum News Feb. 25 after coming out of a meeting with F&W officials.

Partners SAExploration, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Kaktovik Inupiat Corp. are behind the seismic that was expected to be shot this winter. The program, referred to as the Marsh Creek 3-D survey, was to encompass the entire 1002 area, some 2,600 square miles. A narrow strip along the coast, the 1002 area was set aside for potential development by Congress because of its hydrocarbon-rich geology.

The 35-day federal government shutdown that started in December was the main reason behind the delay in securing F&W permit in a timely manner, necessitating a change in dates in the application, Hastings said.

“Since the government went back to work we’ve been working with the agency to make the appropriate changes because there were specific dates in that application that had to change. … By the time we worked through those things it was so late in the season if you put publication in the Federal Register and a 30-day comment period in the timetable, plus, say 15 days after that to process the ITR, you were getting into April and once you mobilize from Deadhorse it takes four days to get to the 1002 border and then another five days to get to the village of Kaktovik … it was just getting too late and we preferred two full winter seasons to do the survey.”

At this point Hastings expects a permit to be issued in mid-second quarter.

- KAY CASHMAN