A drilling rig weighs several million pounds and is moved to its location via ice road. The rig is set on an ice pad more than 12 inches thick. When drilling operations are complete, the rig and support facilities are removed, and all drilling wastes are transported to existing facilities for disposal or injected back downhole. The final step is to take a front end loader and shave the ice pad down to pure ice. Scraped material is hauled out and disposed of in approved facilities.
Pads melt, leaving no trace.
On the inside page is a photograph of an exploratory well at Alpine taken the summer after it was drilled. Prior to drilling we acquired seismic data over this entire area. You can see how much impact we've had. The only visible sign of our presence is the well tree. And this remains on location because we are developing the field and will one day produce from this well.