Shell Submits a Plan for New Exploration of Alaskan Arctic Oil 

Royal Dutch Shell submitted a plan to the federal government on Thursday to try once again to explore for oil in the Alaskan Arctic, following years of legal and logistical setbacks as well as dogged opposition from environmentalists.

Over the last eight years, Shell’s Alaskan Arctic efforts have been plagued by blunders and accidents involving ships and support equipment, reaching a climax with the grounding of one of its drilling vessels in late December 2012 in stormy seas.

Shell, which has already spent about $6 billion on the effort, drilled two shallow wells in Alaska’s Arctic during 2012. But the federal government did not allow Shell to reach the deeper, oil-bearing formations.

After Shell’s problems, ConocoPhillips and the Norwegian oil giant Statoil suspended their Alaskan Arctic drilling plans.

The company announced in January that it would not make an effort to drill in Alaska this summer, given the legal obstacles.

But in recent weeks, Shell has shown renewed interest in its Alaska efforts by signing an agreement with several Alaska Native corporations to share profits from offshore drilling.

Shell will also need to have its exploration plan approved by the Interior Department. A Shell spokesman, Curtis Smith, said that the new plan had fortified safety features, including new tugboats, an extra helicopter, additional offshore supply vessels and better management of contractors.

Environmentalists are similarly expected challenge any approval of those plans. Shell’s separate spill response plan, submitted earlier, is also currently being contested in a federal appeals court based in San Francisco.

“Anyone who has been following this story knows Shell is not Arctic-ready,” said Travis Nichols, a spokesman for Greenpeace, which was highly critical of Shell’s planning. “And more importantly, the Arctic will never be Shell-ready.”

 

Source: NYT

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