Since 2006, Kiggiak-EBA Consulting Ltd. has been instrumental in securing regulatory approvals for Shell Exploration and Production Company of Houston, Texas, in support of their proposed petroleum exploration program in Alaska. The Canadian component of Shell’s Alaska program is the seasonal over-wintering of the Kulluk Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit. The Canadian Beaufort Sea has a limited number of locations where the 81-metre diameter Kulluk and the large icebreaker vessels that typically support it can be safely frozen-in for the winter.
The Kulluk, still considered a state-of-the-art vessel, was custom built in 1982 to support the original Beaufort Sea 
exploration boom of the 1980s. It was used in the Beaufort for more than a decade and was then laid-up in McKinley Bay, near Tuktoyaktuk, NT. In 2006, Shell purchased the Kulluk and has been working to refurbish the Kulluk and obtain regulatory approvals to drill in Alaska since then. After a very quiet decade or so, hopes and efforts towards exploration in the north are picking up again.
For those who do not know, Kiggiak-EBA is our joint venture with Moe Hansen of Inuvik, NT. This joint venture enables EBA to work in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and return benefit to the local area when we do provide consulting services for 
industry and government projects in the area. Rick Hoos (EBA Vancouver) and Sandra Lukas-Amulung (EBA Calgary Riverbend) have worked with the Shell, Frontier Drilling, and Canadian Petroleum Engineering to obtain authorization for activities related to the refurbishment and re-commissioning of the Kulluk, and its storage within Herschel Basin, YT (2007-08) and McKinley Bay, NT (2006-07, 2008-2011). Kiggiak-EBA has the depth to provide other technical services to back-up the logistics of these programs, which helped to make us the consultant of choice for this transnational corporation.
The bulk of the Shell work takes place year round and has 
comprised environmental assessment, regulatory liaison, public consultation, and last week, marine mammal monitoring. Depending upon Shell’s project activities, Kiggiak-EBA coordinates and participates in up to half a dozen community and regulatory tours of Aklavik, Inuvik, and Tuktoyaktuk per year. Conditions range from 24-hour daylight and temperatures greater than 30°C in July (’07) to “BBBbbrrrr!” in March.
In 2007-08, two specialized studies were commissioned. In December 2007, a team led by George Carlson (EBA Kelowna) conducted a forward-looking infrared radar (FLIR) survey to 
locate and avoid possible maternal polar bear dens along the proposed route of an ice road from the Mackenzie Delta to Hershel Basin, Yukon. Then, from January to May 2008, Volker Neth (EBA Calgary Riverbend), Bob Draho and Travis Miguez (EBA Vancouver) conducted a meteorological and sea ice growth study in support of the ice road, and/or a potential airstrip on the ice at Herschel Basin. The construction of the ice road and airstrip did not take place in 2008 due to legal delays on the Alaska side, but the study has contributed to Shell’s understanding of conditions in the area for future years.
In light of the ongoing challenges to the Alaska drilling 
program, Shell has decided to return the Kulluk to McKinley Bay, perhaps for up to three years. In July 2008, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) raised particular concern over the potential for beluga and bowhead whales to be present in the area during the late summer transit of the Kulluk into McKinley Bay. Further, DFO was attempting to tag bowhead whales during the same time period. To address this concern Kiggiak-EBA, DFO, and Shell negotiated wildlife setbacks, protocols, and a communications plan to make every effort to keep all parties involved (human and cetacean) safe and happy. Last week, George Carlson, had the enviable job of being EBA’s marine mammal observer during the recent successful tow of 
the Kulluk into McKinley Bay last week. Now he has fantastic photos to prove it.
August 25/08 update: Shell continues to work toward Alaska drilling authorizations, and has asked for Kiggiak-EBA’s assistance with permitting the Canadian staging and over-wintering activities in 2009/2010.
Density of Bowhead Whales in the Beaufort Sea Study Area - August 2, 2008. Data courtesy of DFO.
This page was last updated on: 8/29/2008 10:14:00 AM
