Oil Development in America's Arctic - 2003

The oil industry on the North Slope uses immense amounts of water for drilling activities. Removing water and building drilling facilities have adversely impacted the Arctic ecosystem.

27 billion gallons of water are used in a year for oil exploration and development on the North Slope, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.(1) This is approximately three times the amount used annually by the entire City of Anchorage.(2)

A single exploratory well in NPR-A needs 1.5 million gallons for drilling use and another 360,000 gallons for camp use, according to BP.(3)

One mile of an onshore ice road six inches thick and 40 feet wide requires 1 to 1.5 million gallons of water, construction of an ice bridge needs 10 million gallons, a single ice pad requires 2-3.6 million gallons, and an ice airstrip needs 8 million gallons of water, according to BP's and Phillips' NPR-A plans.(4)

Oil companies plan to pump water from over 90 lakes for exploratory drilling during winter 2001 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). British Petroleum and Phillips plan to drill exploratory wells at 13 ice pads accessed by 245 miles of ice roads. A total of 350,480,000 gallons will be used annually for the extensive ice road and drill site network, ice airstrips, drilling, and camp use. This water will be used for drilling up to 43 exploratory wells over the next five years in NPR-A. For these wells, an average of 27 million gallons of water is needed per well, including the ice roads needed to link wells with the gravel road network.(5)

More information at Trustees for Alaska

Sources

(1) Alaska Department of Natural Resources, AS 46.15.080 Finding and Determination, Temporary Water Use Authorization TWUP A2001-11, Finding and Determination for 143,420,000 gallons of water per year from 90 lakes for ice road and ice pad construction, (January 4, 2001); granted to BP for Trailblazer NPRA Exploration Program.

(2) Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, Fresh water production and distribution, (2001). www.awwu.ci.anchorage.ak.us/website/Water/production.htm.

(3) BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., NPR-A Five Year Trailblazer winter exploration program, Plan of Operations, Attachment 1, Updates and Clarifications (October 18, 2000).

(4) Id.; see also Phillips Alaska Inc., Plan of Operations/ Operational Overview: Previously approved NPR-A Exploration wells, pp. 9-13 (October 31, 2000).

(5) BP supra n. 3; Phillips supra n.4; see also, Draft Environmental Assessment, Trailblazer Exploration Program, winter drilling 2001-2006, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Northern and Anchorage Field Offices. EA AK-023-01-001 (November 2000),.

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