INUVIK
Inuvik Gas says it is prepared for the fall road closure season, and won't be relying on government efforts to keep the ferries at Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson running until the ice crossings are ready.

Inuvik Gas says it's ready for the fall road closure season, and won't be relying on government efforts to keep the ferries at Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson running until the ice crossings are ready. - photo courtesy of Ikhil Joint Ventures

Brad Driscoll, the new manager at Inuvik Gas, said the company will be relying almost exclusively on the Ikhil natural gas fields outside of town to provide fuel for the town during the six- to eight-week period when road service is likely to be disrupted.

"Synthetic natural gas (SNG) is the primary source of fuel supply for the Town of Inuvik during the year, with Ikhil fuel supply as a backup," Driscoll stated in an e-mail.

"During the fall ferry outage, Ikhil becomes the primary source of fuel supply and SNG is the backup fuel supply. Inuvik Gas Limited is very supportive of the GNWT Department of Transportation efforts to shorten the fall ferry outage. The learnings from the GNWT Department of Transportation program last season have been invaluable in planning and optimizing plans for this winter. We continue to support efforts by the GNWT Department of Transportation for a significantly reduced outage compared to historical operations."

Driscoll said he doesn't anticipate any problems with shortages while relying on the Ikhil field, which have become contaminated by water, greatly shortening its lifespan. That's despite the dire warnings issued a few years ago when the problems in the field became public.

"As SNG has been used a primary fuel supply for Inuvik Gas since January of 2013 and the power corporation has been primarily consuming diesel since early 2012 and more recently liquid natural gas (LNG), resulting in minimized consumption of the remaining gas reserves at Ikhil, based on the Feb. 28, 2013 reserve assessment and monitoring of fluids in the Ikhil well."

Relying on the Ikhil field is a change from the spring strategy, when the company trucks in extra reserves of synthetic natural gas so that the field, which has a very limited life expectancy, doesn't need to be used.

"The spring ferry outage period is much shorter in duration and daily consumption is much lower due to warmer temperatures," Driscoll explained. "This helps to further preserve Ikhil for the longer fall outage. We brought in extra volume this spring and were able to supply the town with SNG through the spring ferry outage."

Last fall saw multiple disruptions in shipments of all kinds of goods to Inuvik via the Dempster Highway, despite the best effort of the GNWT to keep the ferries running.

It proved more difficult than expected for the GNWT to keep the ferries running on a consistent basis. By the end of the season, the Department of Transportation had resorted to mounting a backhoe on the ferry at the Tsiigehtchic crossing to cut a channel through the ice.

Companies which would normally have switched to air transport with the closure of the ferries instead kept trying to supply the town via the Dempster, causing periodic delays.

Contingency planning is ongoing with the GNWT, Town of Inuvik and Inuvik Gas partners, Driscoll added, in case something unexpected happens to the Ikhil field.

In the meantime, Inuvik Gas is also continuing to negotiate a new franchise agreement with the town.

That deal was scheduled to be finalized in August, but the talks are ongoing.

"IGL and the town are working on the franchise agreement," Driscoll said.

There are no plans to apply for a price increase at this time, according to Driscoll.

"The public utility board approved rate of $35.44/GJ is what is currently in place," he said.

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