INUVIK
Imperial Oil has officially announced it is indefinitely suspending all work in its Beaufort Sea exploration drilling program.

Boats towing streamers to record seismic data during Imperial Oil Ltd.'s 2008 seismic program in the Beaufort Sea. The company officially suspended all work in its drilling program on June 26. - photo courtesy of Imperial Oil Ltd.

The company's exploration operations manager, Lee Willis, also acting on behalf of joint venture partners Exxon Mobil Canada and BP Exploration, submitted the notice to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation's Environmental Impact Review Board on June 26.

"The decision involves suspending all the regulatory work that we've been involved in and planned submissions," Imperial spokesperson Pius Rolheiser stated in an e-mail to News/North.

Rolheiser said Imperial is committed to conducting the Beaufort exploration program in the most environmentally and economically sound manner possible.

"That's what people in the Inuvialuk region expect," he added.

However, the decision to defer project work was made to allow the three partner companies more time to conduct additional technical studies and research that's specific to the area. The time would also be used to complete a thorough regulatory program, according to Rolheiser.

Before Imperial's submission was filed, their license would have expired in 2020. "We believe (this) provided insufficient time to conduct what we consider is the necessary work," Rolheiser said.

Last December, Rolheiser told News/North Imperial Oil made no decision to change course in the Beaufort Sea even in light of lower global oil prices.

"We are continuing to pursue regulatory and other work required to progress us to a decision point, including our submission to the National Energy Board on same-season relief well equivalency approach in 2015," Rolheiser stated in an e-mail to News/North at the time.

"Given current outlook for the regulatory process and other required work, the earliest we could spud a well would be the summer drilling season of 2020."

Rolheiser confirmed that Imperial is currently in discussions with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to have the current license term retroactively extended from nine years to 16 years.

"It's our belief that if approved the extension would provide sufficient time for us to undertake the necessary technical studies, develop technology and processes to support the best approach to responsible development in the Beaufort Sea," he stated.

For now, Imperial, Exxon Mobil Canada and BP Exploration plan on maintaining a presence in the North by keeping an office open in Inuvik and collecting ice data during a multi-year program.

The Imperial Oil joint venture is the second project to pull out of the Beaufort Sea after Chevron did in December, citing "economic uncertainty in the industry".

However, Imperial's plans for the area were also much larger in scale than Chevron's $100 million program.

The combined bid for both leases totaled almost $1.8 billion in work commitments.

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