Dr. Oswell has over 25 years of progressive permafrost experience. Highlights of his career include the following key projects:

- Construction supervision of an artificial island in the Beaufort Sea.

- Senior consultant to Enbridge Pipelines (NW) Inc. for the Norman Wells oil pipeline.

- Expert witness and forensic engineer for a variety of geotechnical and permafrost related issues.

- Senior permafrost engineer and subconsultant to ColtKBR for the Mackenzie Gas Project, including providing expert testimony to the National Energy Board and the Joint Review Panel.

- Lead permafrost engineer to Petergaz B.V. for the design of eight 48" offshore pipelines from the Yamal Penisula across Baydaratskaya Bay, Russia.

- Senior permafrost engineer and project manager for the rehabilitation and commissioning of a full-scale pipeline frost heave test site near Fairbanks, Alaska.

- Project Management Team member for Alaska natural gas pipeline project.

More details on the wide range of experience of Dr. Oswell are provided below, with specific project descriptions following.

Cold Regions Engineering
Dr. Oswell has wide experience in many aspects of northern geotechnical engineering. He has provided onsite inspections and supervision during the construction of an artificial island in the Beaufort Sea, and conducted investigations and prepared geotechnical reports for projects in the Canadian and Russian arctic. He was the primary geotechnical/permafrost engineer for a 76 km offshore pipeline crossing in the Russian arctic. He has been involved in assessing the geotechnical performance of the Norman Wells pipeline for over 15 years. In addition he has provided permafrost engineering on the Mackenzie Gas project, the Alaska Gas project and the Alaska North Slope Gas Project. He also assisted in editing Guidelines for Arctic Foundation Design prepared for the Government of Canada, and was senior author for the report Monograph on Norman Wells pipeline geotechnical design and performance, prepared for the Department of Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada. He was also technical manager for the rehabilitation and re-commissioning of a full scale, large diameter pipeline test facility in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the mid-2000s he has been responsible for the design of slopes for the Mackenzie Gas pipeline project, routing and cost estimates for an export gas pipeline near Tambey, Yamal Peninsula, Russia and several other northern oil and gas development projects. Recently Dr. Oswell has been a consultant and member of the Project Management Team for an Alaska natural gas pipeline project.

Offshore Engineering
Dr. Oswell has been involved in numerous offshore development projects. His Masters Degree research focused on shore protection of artificial islands for hydrocarbon development. During the 1980s he was involved in different aspects of the construction of offshore islands in the Beaufort Sea, and supervised the construction of Ellice L-39. Dr. Oswell also provided geotechnical input into the design of large artificial island drilling platforms on the Ob’ River in western Siberia, Russia. He also provided geotechnical and permafrost engineering on a large multi-disciplinary team designing a 76-kilometre undersea gas pipeline crossing in northern Russia. In 1997, Dr. Oswell was responsible for the design for an embankment-fill drilling platform in the tidal flats offshore from India and the review fill placement data for an artificial in the Caspian Sea.

Selected Project Descriptions - Permafrost Engineering

Alaska Gas Project: Geotechnical and permafrost engineer and member of the Project Management team for the Alaska gas project, co-sponsored by TransCanada Pipelines Ltd and ExxonMobil.  Technical duties included addressing the strain demand on the pipeline arising from frost heave and thaw settlement, and project management of geotechnical subcontractors.

Denali Pipeline Project: Permafrost specialist and member of the Project Management group for the Denali Pipeline Project, which is proposing a 48" natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to northern Alberta.  Provided technical input to routing and geological hazards, and legacy data management.

Arctic Bay, Igloolik and Clyde River NU Waste Water Lagoon Design: Permafrost engineer responsible for addressing the design of the containment structures for sewage lagoons in cold permafrost terrain.  Coordinated and managed geothermal modeling of the structures to assess effects on permafrost and geothermal regime, including inclusion of climate warming for a life cycle of 20 years.

Alaska Pipeline Study: Permafrost engineering consultant for a confidential study to examine state-of-the-art thaw settlement design strategies and compile lessons learned and design strategies for the Norman Wells pipeline that could be applicable to a buried pipeline in Alaska.

Allowable Loading of Heavy Vehicles on Frozen Muskeg: Conducted study for major oil and gas exploration company to assess the necessary thickness of frozen muskeg to support a 68,000 kg (GVW) drill rig.  Organized and coordinated field testing and laboratory testing and numerical modeling to determine a preliminary assessment tool for measuring the safe load capacity of frozen muskeg.

Mackenzie Gas Project, NWT:  Responsible for the slope design of the pipeline through continuous and discontinuous permafrost.  Work involves coordination of multi-disciplinary team (geothermal modelling, geotechnical engineering, GIS) to identify, catalogue slopes and develop design strategies to ensure long-term stability. Other project work included senior permafrost engineer and project manager for planning of geotechnical drilling program for pipeline section south of Norman Wells, and Senior Reviewer for permafrost aspects of EIA.  Expert witness in National Energy Board and Joint Review Panel hearings.

Niglintgak Gas Development, Mackenzie Delta, NWT: Senior permafrost engineer and Senior Review Consultant to engineering studies for proposed facilities development at gas field.  Provided engineering input to field investigations, conducted on-site QC monitoring of geotechnical investigations, and provided Senior Review of geotechnical reports for various studies.

TambeyNeftigaz Export Gas Pipeline, Yamal Russia: Senior permafrost engineer and co-study lead for the routing and cost estimate for an overland 30” gas pipeline and 10” condensate pipeline from eastern Yamal Peninsula to a proposed northern export terminal.

Ellice Island Gas Project, NWT:  Senior permafrost engineer responsible for directing a data-gap analysis of geotechnical and terrain information for a proposed production facility and pipeline on Ellice Island, Mackenzie Delta, NWT.

Norman Wells Pipeline, NWT:  Senior project engineer with over 15 years of active involvement in geotechnical issues.  Responsible for ongoing review and evaluation of thermal, piezometric and slope stability instrumentation.  Conducted annual field reconnaissance and inspections, and installed monitoring points.  Many of the slopes are experiencing thawing of the permafrost under the pipeline, and an assessment of the stability of the pipeline is necessary.  Responsible for preparation of annual stability assessments to be submitted to the NEB.

Alaska Gas Project, NWT, Yukon:  Senior permafrost engineering and project manager for studies related to geotechnical aspects of a large (52”) gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Southern markets.  Project review routing along Alaska Highway and Mackenzie Valley.  Studies included granular and water sources, buoyancy control, winter and construction planning and schedules, and other studies.

Fairbanks Frost Heave Pipeline Test Facility: Project Manager responsible for the rehabilitation of mechanical equipment and the installation, instrumentation and commissioning of a new 105 m long full scale pipeline test section across and frozen-unfrozen interface.  Project site is on Cheena Hotsprings Road, Fairbanks Alaska.

Alaska North Slope Gas Production, Alaska:  Project manager and senior engineer for permafrost design input for feasibility study of a gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Cook Inlet.  Studies included frost heave and thaw settlement mitigation and pipeline monitoring techniques.

Baydaratskaya Bay Crossing, Russia:  Permafrost/geotechnical engineer assigned to a multi-discipline engineering team working in The Netherlands to design two offshore 1220 mm diameter gas pipelines of about 76 kilometres in length.  Organized, coordinated and reviewed geotechnical analyses and designs; organized and scoped field investigations; prepared project budgets; and attended and participated in technical meetings with Russian clients.  The assignment length was one year in The Netherlands.

Ellice L-39 Artificial Island, Beaufort Sea:  Project engineer with onsite responsibility for geotechnical aspects during construction.  The island was used for exploration drilling of hydrocarbons.

Residential Development, Nizhnevartovsk, Russia:  Responsible for planning and supervision of a geotechnical investigation, as well as subsequent analysis and reporting for a North American style community for local production association employees.

Water Treatment Plant, Fort Providence, NWT:  Project Engineer responsible for field work and report preparation.  The site was located adjacent to the Mackenzie River and required assessment of potential permafrost conditions, foundation alternatives, and slope stability.

Group Home, Inuvik, NWT:  Project Engineer responsible for planning, conducting and report preparation for an elevated structure in Inuvik.  The site was previous developed requiring consideration of the potential degradation of the permafrost.  Ice-rich clays and highly organic soils were encountered.

School, Pond Inlet, NU:  Field Engineer responsible for planning and conducting the geotechnical investigation for a high school.  The subsurface conditions consisted of moss underlain by fine sand and bedrock.  The permafrost table was typically 0.75 m below grade.  Suitable foundation systems included insulated spread footings, or rock socket piles.

Hotel and Convention Facility, Igloolik, NU:  Project Engineer responsible for planning, undertaking field drilling program, and reporting for a foundation investigation of a Hotel and Convention Facility. Subsurface conditions consisted of fractured sedimentary bedrock, with ice in-filled fissures.  Foundation systems needed to address potential thaw settlement issues.

New School, Coppermine, NWT:  Project Engineer responsible for planning, conducting and report preparation for proposed school.  The site was undeveloped and consisted of granular soils overlying bedrock.  Ground temperatures were monitored to provide an evaluation of the geothermal stability.  The most suitable foundation system was considered to be steel pipe piles grouted into bedrock at depth.

Fire Hall Reconstruction, Aklavik, NWT:  Located in the region of continuous permafrost, buildings with high floor loads require special consideration.  This project included the drilling of six boreholes in permafrost and an examination of foundation conditions for the structure that previously occupied the site.

Ross River RCMP Detachment, Ross River, Yukon:  Senior project engineer responsible for coordinating data review, geothermal analysis, foundation design, instrumentation review and report preparation for a structure overlying very warm and thaw sensitive permafrost.