Statoil still evaluating its plans for Chukchi exploration

The company has the final results from the 3-D seismic survey it carried out in its Chukchi Sea leases in fall 2010 and is assessing these results, anticipating a drilling decision by the middle of 2012, Sunde said.

The company has identified two or three prospects from the seismic and is assessing those in detail, having already named two of the prospects Augustine and Amundsen. The prospects lie about 100 miles offshore, with the village of Wainwright being the closest point on the Chukchi Sea coast.

During this year's Arctic open water season Statoil has been evaluating potential drill sites on its prospects, with Gardline Marine Sciences conducting shallow seismic surveys using the M/V Duke, looking for shallow drilling hazards, and with Fugro Synergy doing shallow coring to test the characteristics of the seabed.

A preliminary evaluation of the shallow seismic indicates there are no hazards in the prospective drilling sites.

A decision on the timing of any drilling by Statoil in its own leases will come as part of the company's overall drilling decision expected in 2012. Meantime, the company is starting work on permitting for eventual drilling, Sunde said.

Litigation and appeals over the 2008 Chukchi Sea lease sale and the permitting of Shell's planned Chukchi Sea drilling have led to uncertainty over the regulatory situation for Chukchi Sea exploration. However, as Shell and Conoco Phillips move toward drilling in the Chukchi, Sunde expects the regulatory fog to dissipate, with greater regulatory clarity and maturity emerging before Statoil is ready to start its drilling operations.

And so far the litigation over Chukchi Sea exploration has not delayed Statoil's plans: The company has not been planning to drill in 2012 or 2013 and has sufficient time remaining on its leases to do the work that it intends to carry out, Sunde said.

Statoil is planning a series of meetings on the North Slope, probably in October and November, to review the results of its 2011 field season and to report to the villages on findings such as marine mammal observations, he said.