“The deconstructed rig will ultimately be cleaned and ultimately be transported to a recycling facility,”the incident team said.
The damaged Doyon 26 rig rests on the tundra next to the Kuukpik Pad, which is part of ConocoPhillips’ Alpine operations. The massive rig toppled over on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. A massive oil drilling rig that was set to explore Alaska’s North Slope this winter will instead be dismantled and sent to be recycled after it crashed onto snow-covered tundra last month, a It was said to be the largest mobile land rig in North America, weighing in at nearly 10 million pounds.
But last month’s accident appears to spell the end of the road for the rig. It toppled over on Jan. 23 as crews with Doyon Drilling Inc. transported it on a frozen gravel road about 6 1/2 miles from the village of Nuiqsut.On Thursday, three weeks after the accident, the incident team said in a statement that the response has moved into a second phase.That effort will start with with deconstructing and removing the crown of the rig. “The deconstructed rig will ultimately be cleaned and ultimately be transported to a recycling facility,” the incident team said in its statement.The collapse caused a spill estimated at roughly 4,000 gallons of diesel and 600 gallons of hydraulic oil. Spill response crews have recovered an estimated 1,132 gallons of spilled product that will be disposed, the incident team said Thursday. Also in the incident, eight people, including two on the structure itself, suffered injuries described as minor. There remains “no immediate risk to the community, infrastructure, air quality, drinking water sources, nearby waterways, traffic, or wildlife,” the incident team said Thursday.Doyon Drilling Inc., the owner of the rig, is leading the response under a Unified Command structure.Sarah Obed, a spokesperson with Doyon and the response team, said Thursday that she was unable to immediately answer multiple questions, including why the rig fell and the estimated value of the loss. “We are focused on the spill response and cleanup efforts, and it may take us some time to pull together the answer for your inquiry,” she said in an email.At the time, it was being trucked to its drilling site in huge Lego-like pieces. There were no injuries or spills then.Alex DeMarban is a longtime Alaska journalist who covers business, the oil and gas industries and general assignments. Reach him at 907-257-4317 or alex@adn.com.Opinion: A unified Mat-Su message to Juneau: Our students can’t wait
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