Nikaitchuq North exploration drilling

Challenge

Since the startup of oil production in 2011, Eni Petroleum has operated the Nikaitchuq Project safely and compatibly with the fragile environment of the Alaska North Slope. SLR has been Eni’s lead environmental consultant throughout these years providing a host of services to support sustainable operations at Nikaitchuq plus due diligence and integration services when Eni acquired the adjacent Oooguruk Project in 2019.

Solution

SLR services have concentrated on environmental impact assessment, land use permitting, air and water compliance, oil spill prevention and response planning, and transactional due diligence. Additionally, SLR provides field environmental coordinators onsite at Nikaitchuq and Oooguruk to ensure real-time focus on proactive compliance and pollution prevention.

As Eni’s business plan has evolved over the past decade to its current focus on reducing carbon footprint and developing renewable energy, SLR has emphasised environmental and social governance services. SLR conducted a series of fugitive emission field studies at Nikaitchuq and Oooguruk that led to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through better maintenance and improved operations. An energy efficiency assessment prepared first for Nikaichuq and now for Oooguruk strives to identify joint operating improvements that reduce GHG emissions and ultimately result in economic savings.

Impact

The success of SLR’s EEA methodology has been replicated at Eni facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. Other ESG services for Eni have included development of air, water, and waste management plans consistent with corporate protocols, audits of third-party waste managers, and inventories of chemicals being phased out of service. SLR has earned the long-term trust of a modern EU energy company implementing its ESG policies half a world away in the sensitive Arctic environment of Alaska.