Philippe Morin
Northern News Services
Friday, January 29, 2007

TUKTOYAKTUK - Workers helping to refurbish the Kulluk oil rig in McKinley Bay near Tuktoyaktuk might be jobless next August, as the rig moves to Alaska.

The announcement was made Jan. 23 as representatives from Shell Oil, Frontier Drilling and an environmental assessment firm held a meeting in Inuvik to discuss the project.

When Nunakput MLA Calvin Pokiak asked about passports being required for workers - due to his presumption Canadian workers might travel to Alaska with the rig - Shell Senior Staff Drilling Engineer Keith M. Craik replied they wouldn't need passports.

Because they wouldn't be working.

"(U.S. regulations) are really very tough, and to work up there we'll have to work within the limitations they place on us. And that's going to mean nearly all the jobs going to Alaskans, I'm afraid," he said.

While the August deadline might discourage some people from seeking work on the Kulluk, Craik said Shell will need Canadian workers for current and future projects.

"I do think there's going to be increased activity in the Beaufort, we're just seeing the start of it," he said, adding the pipeline might be the event to set this in motion.

Since the Kulluk refurbishment is about 70 per cent finished, Craik said, there is still plenty of work for local people to do.

Jim Guthrie, General Manager of Kulluk Arctic Services, said new workers would receive training if they were hired, and recalled how the company trained 50 workers in helicopter safety last September, at the Inuvik Family Centre pool.

"We have a rule, anyone going (to the Kulluk rig) more than three times gets training," he said.

Shell's Alaska Exploration Drilling Manager, Bob Smith, said that training might prove useful in the future, long after the Kulluk rig has sailed.