Kuukpik and SAExploration seek state permit for a winter seismic survey near Nuiqsut

SAExploration and Kuukpik Corp., the village corporation for Nuiqsut, want to run a 3D seismic survey this winter across about 205 square miles of the North Slope, and the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas opened public comment on their permit application Wednesday.

The survey area takes in ground where Santos has proposed another oil project. The data would inform oil exploration and development, according to the state's notice. Comments are due Dec. 4. The area covers state, private and Kuukpik land, but the state permit would apply only to state land.

Crews would move in Jan. 2 and survey from Jan. 9 to March 24, according to the application. About a dozen rubber-tracked vibrators would send energy into the ground, and about 40,000 recording nodes would pick it up. Up to 180 people would live in a sleigh camp that moves every two to seven days.

The survey is called Pikka-Quokka 3D. Santos' Pikka field began producing oil in May and Santos plans to hold it near 70,000 barrels a day for now. In June, Santos subsidiary Oil Search (Alaska) applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for the Quokka Development Project, 15 miles east of Nuiqsut. It would have two drill sites of up to 50 wells each and a processing plant sized for about 80,000 barrels a day. Every section the Corps application lists in three townships falls inside the seismic survey's boundaries.

Santos said in April it planned a 3D survey of the Nanushuk reservoir this winter, without naming a contractor or area. The seismic application names no client, and Santos hasn't said publicly whether this is its survey.

The survey still needs other approvals, the application says. They include North Slope Borough permits, a Fish and Game habitat permit, a letter of non-objection from Kuukpik and a federal letter of authorization covering polar bears.

Which federal rule would govern the polar bear authorization is open. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule specific to SAExploration in May, and no final version has been published. SAExploration and the Fish and Game commissioner backed it, and six conservation groups asked the service to deny it. Separately, an industry-wide rule that took effect Oct. 19 covers seismic work, names Quokka among its development areas and lets member companies' contractors apply.

The company will meet with the Native Village of Nuiqsut before the season starts, the application says. A coordinator would give the community maps of planned work 24 and 48 hours ahead, and the company would help find local subsistence observers to work on the crew.