Petro-Canada has applied for permits at four potential exploration sites in the northwest region of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. FEX is now exploring in the region. Notice of the company's Alaska Coastal Consistency Review was published on the state's public notice web-site on Jan. 22. The locations are in an area near the Chipp and Topagoruk Rivers 60 miles southeast of Barrow and 45 miles southwest of Lonely, a former Distant Early Warning radar station on the Arctic coast. The company is asking for permits on activities between 2007 and 2009.

The project would include 26 miles of ice road, 193 miles of snow road, two 5,000-foot ice airstrips and ice well pads that would be constructed for each winter season. About 58.6 million gallons of water from lakes near the roads would be used each year in construction of the ice roads and pads.