Category: Arctic

ENLARGE Shell CEO Ben van Beurden is the latest oil-industry executive to face investors’ questions over environmental policies. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images In the company’s first annual shareholder meeting since it announced its planned tie-up with British energy company BG Group , BRGYY -1.58 % the climate issue took center stage, overshadowing the $70 billion deal announced in April. It took place after Shell’s Arctic-bound vessels were met with kayak-borne protests in Seattle last week. F ossil-fuel companies are coming under scrutiny ahead of climate-change talks in Paris later this year. CEO Ben van Beurden said the company was the first in the industry to acknowledge a link between CO2 emissions and climate change. “We have thought through a fairly pragmatic strategy to position your company with the long-term energy transition that is currently under way,” Mr. van Beurden said. On the Arctic, Mr. van Beurden said Shell was […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

LONDON Royal Dutch Shell will press on with a campaign to explore the Arctic for oil this summer despite protests in the port city of Seattle, chief executive officer Ben van Beurden said on Tuesday. Hundreds of environmental activists have fanned out across the Seattle Bay in recent days to disrupt the Anglo-Dutch company’s rigs from entering the port en route to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, saying drilling in the remote Arctic waters could lead to an ecological catastrophe. Van Beurden however dismissed claims that Shell’s was using Seattle’s port illegally. "The contract that we have with Fos, the maritime contractor that we have there, the lease that they have in terminal 5 we think they are legally valid and indeed have tested it and are ready to move ahead with putting the Polar Pioneer (rig) there, loading it out so it is ready for its journey to […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

SEATTLE About 200 protesters gathered at the Port of Seattle on Monday to block access to a Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig headed for the Arctic this summer to resume exploration for oil and gas reserves. Holding signs reading "Shell No" and "Seattle Loves the Arctic," protesters gathered early to prevent workers from reaching the rig, one of two that Shell will store in Seattle before sending to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Environmental groups have planned days of demonstrations over Shell’s plans, saying drilling in the icy Arctic region, where weather changes rapidly, could lead to a catastrophic spill that would be next to impossible to clean up. They also say drilling would threaten the Arctic’s vast layer of sea ice that helps regulate the global temperature and that they say has already been disappearing as a result of global warming. "I’m joining in solidarity with the environmental […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Seattle protestors plan weekend events in an effort to try to show Shell is a poor steward for the environment. Photo courtesy: Emily Johnston/350 Seattle. SEATTLE, May 15 (UPI) — Though Shell may drill in Alaska’s arctic waters no matter how many protests are held, a Seattle organizer said the company can be cast in a bad light. Seattle organizers are planning weekend protests against Shell’s use of a port terminal for drilling rigs bound for the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska. Emily Johnston, a spokeswoman for advocacy group 350 Seattle, said in response to email questions port consideration for Shell was offensive. "We probably can’t stop them from getting to Alaska this summer, but we can make sure they don’t get to make such catastrophic decisions in quiescent business-as-usual conditions," she said. "We’ll shine a bright light on exactly how bad an actor they are." Seattle […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Greenpeace joins the chorus of voices expressing outrage after the federal government gave condition approval to Shell to start drilling in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska. File photo / Earl S. Cryer/UPI ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 12 (UPI) — A federal decision to give conditional approval to Shell to drill in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska was an egregious error, advocacy groups said. "Instead of holding Shell accountable and moving the country towards a sustainable future, our federal regulators are catering to an ill-prepared company in a region that does not tolerate cutting corners," Greenpeace Senior Research Specialist Tim Donaghy said in a statement emailed to UPI. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management conditionally approved Shell’s multi-year exploration plan for the Chukchi Sea. Before the company can start drilling, it needs additional permits from state and federal agencies, including those governing the protection […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

WASHINGTON Royal Dutch Shell’s quest to return to oil drilling in the U.S. Arctic for the first time since 2012 took a big step forward on Monday when the Obama administration approved the company’s exploration plan. The Department of Interior approved the plan in a move that had been expected. Now Shell must only get several permits from the federal government and the state of Alaska in order to begin drilling this summer. Shell has not drilled in the Arctic since its mishap-filled 2012 season, when the company was forced to evacuate the Kulluk drill rig, which eventually grounded. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner ; Editing by Bill Trott )

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray adds his voice to a chorus of those expressing reservation about Shell’s plans to drill in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska. UPI/Jim Bryant SEATTLE, May 11 (UPI) — After a setback in Seattle, organizers announced plans to hold weekend events to protest Shell’s drilling plans in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray last week expressed opposition to Shell’s lease for a port terminal for use for its drilling plans offshore Alaska. The western port city is ready to help the port authority attract clean companies, "rather than the polluting industries of yesterday," he said. Port officials in January approved plans to lease Terminal 5 to Foss Maritime, which would facilitate Shell’s regional operations. The mayor’s appeal for a new permit, Foss said, would cause "long-term harm" to the industry. The federal Department of Interior in April […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Photo Activists trained on kayaks last week in Puget Sound in advance of a floating protest of Royal Dutch Shell in the Port of Seattle. Credit David Ryder for The New York Times SEATTLE — A dozen or so men and women, cinched into life jackets, paddles at the ready, were about to launch their kayaks into Elliott Bay early Thursday evening with Seattle’s glittering skyline as the backdrop. For some of the paddlers, it was a first-time experience, and with the water at 50 degrees and choppy, there were some obvious signs of trepidation. “O.K., what hazards are we watching for?” Elizabeth Chiaravalli, their instructor, shouted, and a smattering of answers immediately bounced back. “The waves!” “The dock!” “The pilings!” Then Cynthia Orr, a 67-year-old mental health counselor, spoke up. “Shell Oil!” she cried, standing by her boat. Her fellow kayakers — or kayaktivists, as they call themselves […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s quest to return to Arctic drilling for the first time in three years could face delays after Seattle ruled that the city’s port must apply for a permit for the company to use it as a hub for drilling rigs. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, a Democrat who has fought against new projects by coal and oil companies, applauded the requirement by the city’s planning department. "This is an opportunity for the port and all of us to make a bold statement about how oil companies contribute to climate change, oil spills and other environmental disasters – and reject this short-term lease," Seattle’s Mayor Ed Murray said on his website. The Puget Sound region has a decades-long history as a hub for equipment used in energy drilling in Alaska. But some environmental groups and politicians have pushed for the region’s economy to move beyond oil, […]

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com