Project:  J.W. Dalton #1 Reserve Pit Closure and Exploratory Well Plug and Abandonment, National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska

Client:  Bureau of Land Management

Marsh Creek Role:  Prime  Contractor

Contract:  Fixed Price

Project Description: Three hundred forty feet of shoreline erosion in the 2 weeks before freeze-up of the Beaufort Sea required this emergency response project to be completed in only 2 months, a project that would normally require 6 months to plug and abandonment of the exploratory well and characterize and remove the reserve pit contents.  Project activities included:

• Mobilizing by cat-train across Alaska’s North Slope a 40-person camp, 15 pieces of heavy equipment, and more than 75,000 gallons of fuel.
• Constructing and maintaining 8.8 miles of ice road.
• Characterizing reserve pit drilling wastes by completing 8 test trenches and collecting and analyzing more than 50 characterization samples.
• Plugging and abandoning the exploratory well.
• Designing, constructing, and operating a temporary drilling waste storage facility to comply with State of Alaska, Division of Solid Waste Regulations.
• Excavating and hauling 2,900 cubic yards of drilling along a three-mile ice road to the storage facility.
• Demobilizing by cat-train before the closure of tundra travel on state and federal lands.

An aggressive 28-day field schedule eliminated the possibility of equipment being stranded onsite because of tundra travel closure saving the BLM over $500,000 in standby charges, and mitigating the possible release of 3,000 cubic yards of drilling waste and 9,300 gallons of diesel to the Beaufort Sea. The project also provided full-time employment for 3 Native hires from Kaktovik.

Marsh Creek will dewater the temporary storage cells under a ADEC general wastewater permit reducing the volume 30 percent and saving the client future handling and disposal costs.

MCLLC a Certified 8(a) ANC Company