ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Remediation work is scheduled to begin in March on legacy wells near Umiat within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), under an interagency agreement between the Bureau of Land Management Alaska and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Corps has awarded a contract to Marsh Creek, LLC to plug Umiat Wells 1, 3 and 11. In addition, the contract calls for removal of wellheads at Umiat Wells 4, 8, and 10. The total cost of the project is approximately $10 million, including mobilization and demobilization. Mobilization is scheduled to begin the week of March 1. Remediation work on Umiat Wells 6, 7, and 9 was completed in 2011 and 2012.
Between 1944 and 1982, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Geological Survey conducted a program of exploratory and scientific drilling on Alaska’s North Slope in what is now the NPR-A. The BLM was given responsibility for managing the NPR-A in 1976 and inherited the responsibility to assess, plug and remediate these wells in 1982.
Since 2002, the BLM has plugged eighteen wells and remediated four reserve pits at a cost of nearly $86 million. The September 2013 passage of the Helium Stewardship Act included a provision to fund BLM’s legacy well cleanup efforts with $50 million through fiscal year 2019. The 2013 Legacy Wells Strategic Plan outlines priorities and actions BLM will take to clean up legacy wells in the NPR-A.
The 2013 Legacy Wells Strategic Plan and additional information on NPR-A legacy wells can be found at http://www.blm.gov/ak.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
