The oil rig that crashed into the frozen ground on the North Slope near Nuiqsut Friday remains too unstable for responders to access the scene, state officials said. While no serious injuries were reported, days after the incident, there were still many unknowns for the companies involved and the nearby community.
Doyon Rig 26 was commissioned in 2016 by ConocoPhillips and built, owned and operated by Doyon Drilling, a subsidiary of Doyon, a regional Native corporation based in Fairbanks. The 10-million-pound machine, also known by the nickname "The Beast," was being moved on a gravel road on Friday afternoon when it suddenly toppled over 6 ½ miles from Nuiqsut, an Iñupiaq village of about 500.
ConocoPhillips said in a statement that no one was seriously hurt. Two workers, who were on the rig when it crashed, as well as six responders, were taken to nearby clinics, treated and released.
The company also said there was no damage to community infrastructure, with no impact to oil pipelines and fuel deliveries.
The Department of Environmental Conservation said in a situation report that the rig had a capacity of 8,400 gallons of diesel on board. But DEC said it has been unable to get close to the wreckage due to worries that metal from Rig 26 might fall on response team members.
"Structural hazards continue to limit access," the report said. "A safety team has been dispatched to evaluate concerns."
The cause of the accident remains unknown, officials said. According to the DEC report, the wreck happened near a tributary to the Colville River.
ConocoPhillips said Doyon is in charge of a unified command that is managing the response. Neither company agreed to an interview about the incident.
Neither ConocoPhillips nor Doyon have said what can be salvaged from the wreckage – or whether it's a total loss. It is believed to be one of the largest mobile land drilling rigs in North America.
Community concerns and a lawsuit
The North Slope Borough released a statement about the incident, and a local tribe, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, sent out an alert about it to residents.
But Nuiqsut resident Colleen Sovalik said she did not receive any official communication about it for many hours, and when she did, it did not bring her reassurance.
"Unfortunately, that was not any information that allowed community members to feel at ease and only heightened concern because we didn't know if there was more that was happening, and nobody told us about it, or what to expect," she said. "Also, it didn't give us any reassurance with any information provided that they were going to do any assessments, independent of what industry was reporting."
Sovalik said she was also concerned about whether the conditions were too warm to move the rig. The temperatures in the area were around and above freezing on the day of the incident.
"The weather was real warm," Sovalik said. "I don't know where that rig was headed... If it was moving (on) the ice, it was not a good decision."
Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, a former Nuiqsut city mayor and a long-time environmental activist, lives in the community. She said the event highlights the worries some have had about the development in the area.
"We're very concerned about what this means to our community and whether or not we're safe in our lands and waters where they're developing," she said.
Last month, the environmental law organization Earthjustice filed a lawsuit challenging the winter exploration program near Nuiqsut. The lawsuit centered around concerns over how the project will affect subsistence activities and ecological resources, especially near Teshekpuk Lake.
Ian Dooley, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the Doyon rig was being moved for the exploration program.
"One thing that this points to is a concern that we've raised from the very beginning about the agency rushing to permit this project without proper or adequate process, without considering the comments and the concerns that have been raised," Dooley said.
The plaintiffs requested a preliminary injunction to halt the program and are awaiting a legal ruling.
Dooley also said there were also immediate concerns about contamination because the wrecked rig, with diesel on board, is so close to the Colville River tributary.
Record-setting oil rig
In 2022, ConocoPhillips and Doyon set a new long-distance drilling record of almost seven miles with Rig 26. Tim Bradner, publisher of the Alaska Economic Report, said both companies were proud of the rig, which they designed and built especially for Arctic drilling. Bradner said the module was a huge success story for both companies.
"It was significant because it was very specialized for the drilling of these long-distance extended reach wells," Bradner said. "That enabled a lot of pockets of oil and reservoirs that were difficult to teach from the surface."
Bradner said Drill 26 was an important milestone for Doyon, capping decades of hard work.
In a court filing over the pending environmental lawsuit, ConocoPhillips said the accident wouldn't impact its winter drilling plans. It said it would use a substitute drilling rig from Doyon.
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