Narwhal Exploration seeks state approval to drill up to three wells in West Harrison Bay

Narwhal Exploration has asked the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas to approve up to three exploratory wells in West Harrison Bay, and the division is taking written comment through Oct. 30.

The wells would sit in nearshore Beaufort Sea waters about 40 miles northwest of Nuiqsut. They would be drilled from temporary ice pads on the sea bottom. Camps and equipment storage would be onshore in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, with access by a coastal sea-ice trail from Oliktok Point and an ice airstrip in the reserve.

Narwhal expects construction of camps and support operations to begin in November, ice pads to be finished by mid-December, the first well to be drilled in January 2027 and demobilization to begin around mid-May. The division received the application Sept. 24, according to its notice.

A separate Narwhal request, received Oct. 7 and published Friday, seeks a five-year off-road travel land use permit for travel and ice construction on state land between the Canning and Colville rivers. Comment on it also closes Oct. 30.

In 2025, Narwhal filed an oil-discharge contingency plan describing up to five exploration wells between January and April 2026 and an 82,500-barrel response-planning standard volume.

NOAA Fisheries issued Narwhal an incidental harassment authorization, effective Aug. 5, covering marine mammals during shallow-hazard surveys and ice-trail activities. NOAA's biological opinion said the work may affect endangered bowhead whales, threatened Arctic ringed seals and threatened Beringia bearded seals, along with both seals' critical habitat. The Center for Biological Diversity objected to that authorization, arguing the exploration could disturb marine mammals with underwater noise.