INUVIK - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) has begun a $21.8 million five-year study aiming to collect data about the environmental sensitivities of the Beaufort Sea, an area that has come under increasing attention from oil and gas companies in recent years.

The federal government is funding a five-year, $21.8-million study into the environmental sensitivities of the Beaufort Sea in anticipation of planned oil and gas exploration work in the region. - photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The study, called the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment, will ultimately help INAC, the National Energy Board (NEB), which regulates oil and gas activity, and operators in conducting their environmental assessments of proposed projects taking place in the Beaufort Sea.

Considering the amount of attention the Arctic offshore has been receiving from companies - and the lack of information on areas where work is eventually expected to take place - the study is much-needed, said Michel Chenier, director of policy and co-ordination for INAC.

While Devon Energy drilled in 2005 and 2006 at its Paktoa well in the Beaufort Sea - and is not disclosing the results for competitive reasons - the Arctic offshore has gone largely unexplored since the 1970s and 1980s.

But several companies have more recently expressed interesting in tapping into other areas of the Beaufort Sea.

In 2007, Imperial Oil, together with ExxonMobil, purchased the rights to explore a 205,321 hectare parcel located 120 km from the outermost edge of the Mackenzie Delta.

The next year, BP purchased a 202,000 hectare parcel adjacent to Imperial's parcel for a record $1.2 billion.

This past summer, Chevron Canada successfully bid $103 million to conduct work on 205,000 hectares of seabed off Yukon's north coast and about 100 kilometres north of Herschel Island.

While studies on the Beaufort Sea have been conducted before, "what's new about this one is that we are now (looking at) an area that has never been subject to rights issuance (exploration)," said Chenier.

"The main benefit for the whole territory is that (the study) will enable Inuvialuit organizations to be better prepared for pending oil and gas exploration. It provides a forum for them to bring forward what they consider to be areas or issues that are priorities for them."

In the government's announcement of the project, Nellie Cournoyea, chair and CEO of Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, said, "The issuance of hydrocarbon exploration authority in the Beaufort Sea must be guided by a comprehensive understanding of the individual and cumulative impacts of such developments on the sensitive Arctic ecosystem.

"This ... will provide for a significant acquisition of knowledge in several critical areas that have been collectively identified in recent years by government departments, Inuvialuit organizations and other parties holding regulatory authority or other interests in the Beaufort Sea area."

The National Energy Board - which is currently imposing a moratorium on any new Arctic offshore wells - is undertaking a review of Arctic offshore drilling practices.

The two studies could very well complement each other, said Chenier.

"As part of that scope, (the NEB) has identified the state of knowledge of research in the Beaufort Sea as being an issue that will be discussed, and we could potentially expect that some intervenors may be looking not only to point to existing sources of research but that this new (INAC) initiative could assist in dealing with some of the matters that are discussed."

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