Category: Arctic

Shell branding is seen at a petrol station in west London, January 29, 2015. The Obama administration on Monday granted Royal Dutch Shell the final permit to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic for the first time since 2012, a move environmentalists vowed to fight. The Interior Department gave Shell the final permit to drill into the oil zone in the Chukchi Sea off northern Alaska after the Fennica, an icebreaker the company leases that carries emergency well-plugging equipment, was repaired after suffering a gash in its hull. The permit was expected as the department had previously approved Shell’s exploration program before the Fennica hit uncharted shoals in southern Alaska. Shell obtained the leases in the Chukchi during the administration of former President George W. Bush. Shell has spent about $7 billion on exploration in the Arctic. It has not explored in the region since 2012, when […]

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Arctic Challenger to be positioned near drilling sites for Shell, which should be getting necessary permits for exploration from the federal government soon. Photo courtesy of Shell Alaska. WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (UPI) — Shell may soon get the permits necessary to start drilling into potential oil basins in an exploration well off the coast of Alaska, a federal regulator said. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement granted permission to Shell in July to drill two wells in the arctic waters off the Alaskan coast. BSEE said the permits excluded drilling into oil-bearing zones because Shell lacks a capping stack, a critical piece of safety equipment, positioned near drilling sites to continue beyond the exploratory phase. Shell’s early efforts off the coast of Alaska were plagued by equipment issues. Shell last month discovered a small breach in the hull of MV Fennica, chartered to carry the safety equipment to […]

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Shell’s Polar Pioneer in Port Angeles, Wash., on May 12. Photographer: Jason Redmond/Reuters In a windowless conference room in Anchorage, a dozen Royal Dutch Shell employees report on the highest-profile oil project in the multinational’s vast global portfolio. Warmed by mid-July temperatures, Arctic ice in the Chukchi Sea, northwest of the Alaskan mainland, is receding. Storms are easing; helicopter flights will soon resume. Underwater volcanoes—yes, volcanoes—are dormant. “That’s good news for us,” Ann Pickard, Shell’s top executive for the Arctic, whispers to a visitor. Overhead, a bank of video monitors displays blinking green radar images of an armada of Shell vessels converging on a prospect called Burger J. Company geologists believe that beneath Burger J—70 miles offshore and 800 miles from the Anchorage command center—lie up to 15 billion barrels of oil. An additional 11 billion barrels are thought to be buried due east under the Beaufort Sea. All […]

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House Democrats raise concerns about risk disclosures by companies like Shell targeting reserves locked in arctic waters off the coast of Alaska. Photo by ziggysofi/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) — U.S. congressional leaders said they had questions about the disclosure of risks facing companies like Royal Dutch Shell targeting arctic oil and gas reserves. Ranking members of the House of Representatives Committees on Natural Resources and Financial Services issued a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking a review of corporate financial disclosures by oil and gas companies with offshore operations, particular in arctic waters. When the federal government gave limited consent to Shell to start drilling operations off the coast of Alaska earlier this month, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., ranking member of the House natural resources committee, said Shell’s campaign was "fruitless." When issuing the letter to the SEC, Rep. Alan Lowethal, R-Calif., a member of the […]

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Greenpeace activists arrested by U.S. Coast Guard officials during protest against Shell drilling plans offshore Alaska. Photo courtesy of Greenpeace. JUNEAU, Alaska, July 23 (UPI) — Legal counsel for advocacy group Oceana said that, while pressure hasn’t stopped Shell’s slow march to arctic oil, feet can be still held to the fire. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement granted permission to Shell to drill two wells in the arctic waters off the Alaskan coast. BSEE said the permits excluded drilling into oil-bearing zones because Shell lacks a critical piece of safety equipment . Shell’s efforts to drill offshore Alaska have long been the target of advocacy groups, most recently from kayak-bound activists protesting against rig deployments from the Port of Seattle. Michael LeVine, Pacific senior counsel for Oceana, said that, given Shell’s track record in Alaskan waters, a return to the regulatory and procedural drawing board may be […]

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WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday granted Royal Dutch Shell two final permits to explore for crude in the Arctic this summer, but said the company cannot drill into the oil zone until required emergency equipment arrives in the region. The department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) conditionally granted Shell permits for exploration in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, in a season which sea ice limits from July until October. But Shell must have emergency equipment to contain a potential blown-out well deployable within 24 hours before drilling into the oil zone, the office said. Shell discovered weeks ago that the Fennica icebreaker that holds the required equipment, called a capping stack, had a three-foot (1-meter) gash in it. "Without the required well control system in place, Shell will not be allowed to drill into oil-bearing zones," BSEE Director Brian Salemo said. […]

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Icebreaker contracted by Shell to carry a piece of safety equipment to Alaskan waters suffers minor hull breach. UPI/Kathryn Hansen/NASA JUNEAU, Alaska, July 8 (UPI) — Royal Dutch Shell confirmed an icebreaker carrying a piece of safety equipment to a drilling site in arctic Alaskan waters suffered a minor hull breach. A Shell spokesman confirmed in a statement emailed to Alaska Public Media a "small breach" was discovered in the hull of MV Fennica, chartered to carry a capping stack to drilling sites in the Chuckchi Sea. Shell is proposing as many as six wells in a region known as the Burger prospect, located in shallow waters off the coast of Alaska, using the Noble Discoverer and Polar Pioneer rigs. Shell would need the capping stack positioned near drilling sites under the terms of federal permits. Industry group American Petroleum Institute in July 2014 outlined recommended practices for the […]

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Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.29 % PLC is days away from drilling in the Arctic Ocean—betting it can find enough oil to justify the huge risks that keep almost every other competitor out of those icy waters. The company is hauling two massive rigs—the Polar Pioneer and the Noble Discoverer—more than 2,000 miles up and around the Alaska coast to the Chukchi Sea, where it plans to begin work the third week of July. Accompanying the rigs are 30 support vessels and seven aircraft, a large entourage even by big oil-company standards. The voyage represents Shell’s effort to mount a comeback in the Arctic three years after a different rig ran aground following an unsuccessful drilling season. This time, Shell executives say they have both costs and safety under control, but the project has already hit a snag. A federal agency said last week that Shell can’t drill wells […]

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July 7 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s icebreaker vessel Fennica returned to the Dutch Harbor in Alaska with a small breech in the hull, raising concerns about the company’s plan to resume drilling in the Arctic later this month. Shell said in June it plans to restart drilling for oil in the Arctic off Alaska as early as the third week of July after a conditional approval by the United States. "Any impact to our season will ultimately depend on the extent of the repair," spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said in an e-mail to Reuters. Fennica, owned by Arctia Offshore, is one of the primary ice management vessels in the Port of Helsinki during European winter. Shell was given a conditional approval by the U.S. Department of the Interior in May to return to the Arctic for the first time since its mishap-plagued 2012 drilling season. (Reporting […]

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As part of its goal to become a dominant player in Alaska’s energy industry, Hilcorp Energy is reportedly buying the Cook Inlet assets owned by XTO Energy, an Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary. Suann Guthrie, a media advisory for XTO Energy in Fort Worth, confirmed to Rigzone that XTO has agreed to sell its interest in the Cook Inlet, which include 29 producing wells from two platforms and an onshore facility to Hilcorp Alaska. Altogether, the assets produced about 2,000 barrels of oil per day in 2014. The deal isn’t expected to run into regulatory hurdles from the state of Alaska. Guthrie said the divestment will impact some XTO employees, but all workers will receive job offers from Hilcorp or be reassigned within XTO’s other operations. “ExxonMobil remains committed to its operations in Alaska. This sale does not impact ExxonMobil’s other Alaska operations or early planning activities for a possible […]

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LONDON—Oil companies need to do more to tackle climate change, the Archbishop of Canterbury said Tuesday, noting he was particularly concerned about the recent push to drill in Arctic Ocean waters. Archbishop Justin Welby, the leader of more 85 million Anglicans and Episcopalians around the world, didn’t speak about the most immediate foray being made into the Alaskan Arctic by Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.29 % PLC. But he mentioned some of the same arguments made by environmentalists who oppose Shell’s drilling campaign, which begins this month in the Chukchi Sea. In the Arctic, “the drilling window is very, very limited and if you have a blowout towards the end of the window it might be eight or nine months before you drill a relief well and cap the flow,” said Archbishop Welby, a former oil-company executive before he was ordained. A Shell spokesman said in an email that […]

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Arctic oil rig Oil and gas giant Shell is expected to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic within the next two weeks. Thirty ships left Dutch Harbor in Alaska on Thursday for the Arctic to support two initial exploratory wells. The company has already committed about $7bn (£4.5bn) to the controversial project, and is confident it will find huge quantities of oil in the region. But if the initial wells do not find oil, Shell will contemplate walking away from the region entirely. The US Department of the Interior gave the green light to Shell to commence Arctic oil exploration in May this year, and the Anglo-Dutch group clearly believes it will get the remaining necessary permits in the next week or two. The initial two wells will be in relatively shallow water of about 40 to 50m deep, off the coast of Alaska, and they will use […]

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Arctic oil rig Oil and gas giant Shell is expected to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic within the next two weeks. Thirty ships left Dutch Harbor in Alaska on Thursday for the Arctic to support two initial exploratory wells. The company has already committed about $7bn (£4.5bn) to the controversial project, and is confident it will find huge quantities of oil in the region. But if the initial wells do not find oil, Shell will contemplate walking away from the region entirely. The US Department of the Interior gave the green light to Shell to commence Arctic oil exploration in May this year, and the Anglo-Dutch group clearly believes it will get the remaining necessary permits in the next week or two. The initial two wells will be in relatively shallow water of about 40 to 50m deep, off the coast of Alaska, and they will use […]

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Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of International Law and the Arctic , which was awarded the Donner Prize in 2014. Eighty-three billion barrels: That’s how much oil could be present in the Arctic, according to a high-profile U.S. geological survey report released in 2008. But the wave of excitement from the report is now receding, as some harsh realities sink in. First, 83 billion barrels is not actually that much. It would provide enough oil to satisfy world demand for just three years at our current level of consumption. Second, the report was an estimate of undiscovered reserves, based on some broad geological assumptions, since most of the Arctic has not yet been subject to exploratory drilling. Third, 83 billion includes reserves that are technically, but not necessarily economically, recoverable. This […]

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The move represents a setback for oil companies active in Canada’s arctic waters and follows a similar decision by Chevron Corp. CVX 0.26 % in December to halt its own exploratory drilling program in the Beaufort Sea . Those projects have been stymied by regulatory hurdles and some of the world’s highest extraction costs. Imperial Oil Ltd. IMO 0.60 % , Exxon Mobil’s Canadian affiliate, informed federal regulators in Canada of its decision to suspend its Beaufort Sea exploratory program on Friday and said it would seek to have its current lease extended retroactively to 16 years. “If approved, the extension would provide sufficient time to undertake the necessary technical studies and develop the technology and processes to support responsible development in the Beaufort Sea,” Imperial Oil said in a letter to Canada’s National Energy Board. The Arctic holds billions of barrels of untapped oil reserves, but offshore-drilling costs […]

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Greenpeace activists arrested by U.S. Coast Guard officials during protest against Shell drilling plans offshore Alaska. Photo courtesy of Greenpeace. SEATTLE, June 16 (UPI) — Fourteen activists from Greenpeace were arrested by federal authorities during a protest against Shell’s arctic Alaska program off the coast of Seattle. Activists took to kayaks to protest against Shell’s use of the Port of Seattle as a staging ground for summer plans to drill off the coast of Alaska. Shell is proposing as many as six wells in a region known as the Burger prospect, located in shallow waters, using the Noble Discoverer and Polar Pioneer rigs. The Greenpeace activists were part of a larger group of around 50 protestors. Each of the Greenpeace activists were released and issued citations of $250. "Every minute that brave protesters can delay Shell’s Arctic drilling plans is another chance for President Obama to reconsider his disastrous […]

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SEATTLE A Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilling rig that will search for oil in the Arctic left its temporary base in Seattle on Monday for the trip north to Alaska as dozens of activists in kayaks tried to stop it, authorities said. Live television showed the rig being towed out of its terminal at the Port of Seattle with kayakers fanning out in an arc as it moved into the Puget Sound. Twenty-five people were detained by the Coast Guard for violating a safety zone around the vessel and were fined $500 each, Coast Guard spokesman George Degener said. The rig paused at Bainbridge Island, west of Seattle, and several tweets indicated it had beached. Degener said the reports were incorrect and the rig was changing towing configuration. Seattle City Council member Mike O’Brien was among the activists who paddled out to oppose Shell’s plans to resume drilling for […]

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SEATTLE—Law enforcement detained dozens of protesters Monday for trying to block a Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.03 % PLC oil rig from departing the Port of Seattle for drilling off Alaska—the latest development in a weekslong standoff in which environmental activists have been joined by an unusual ally: the city itself. Monday’s action took place after the Polar Pioneer and its support vessels attempted to leave the port about 6 a.m. to begin exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea and were intercepted by protesters in kayaks, Coast Guard officials said. About two dozen people were detained, including Seattle City Councilman Mike O’Brien, as more activists prepared to try to block the 400-by-292-foot drilling vessel from reaching the open sea, said Coast Guard Lt. Dana Warr. Lt. Warr said the agency is enforcing a 500-yard safety zone around the vessel, and that violators face misdemeanor citations. Shell officials said that […]

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graph of Alaska crude oil production, as explained in the article text Alaska’s crude oil production has declined from 1.8 million barrels per day (MMb/d) in 1991 to 0.5 MMb/d in 2014, and it is expected to continue declining through 2040. Almost 75% of Alaska’s crude oil production from 1990 to 2012 was from the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River fields in the central North Slope, which respectively produced 4.9 billion and 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil over this period. Crude oil production in Alaska is sensitive to the challenging environment—including variable ice conditions and limited time without ice coverage—as well as pipeline economics . However, recent conditional approval granted to Royal Dutch Shell to begin exploratory drilling in the Burger Prospect in the Chukchi Sea may help to offset future declines in crude oil production from other state and federally managed resources in the region. U.S. Energy […]

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A divided federal appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by a coalition of environmental groups to revoke federal approval of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s oil spill response plans related to drilling on Alaska’s remote Arctic coast. By a 2-1 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which is part of the Department of the Interior, acted lawfully in approving the plans, which relate to Shell oil leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas from 2005, 2007 and 2008. It rejected arguments by environmental groups such as the National Audobon Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, that the approval was “arbitrary” and “capricious,” based on Shell’s unsupported assumption that it could recover 90 percent to 95 percent of any oil spilled. Many environmental advocates oppose drilling in the Arctic on concern that any spill might prove […]

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Seattle activists opposed to Arctic drilling have vowed to launch a kayak blockade to prevent the departure of Shell’s drilling rig , and said they have hundreds of protesters standing to hit the water as soon as the Polar Pioneer departs. “Our effort is to create as large a flotilla as we can to make it impossible for them to get permission to leave,” Bill Moyer, executive director of the Backbone Campaign, an environmental justice organization, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. Although Shell has not announced a departure date, activists with ShellNo said on its website that the rig could leave for Alaskan waters as early as Wednesday. There it will drill exploratory wells approved by the U.S. government last month. ”Work continues as planned in preparation for the Polar Pioneer’s departure to Alaska,” Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said in an email. “The rig and its crew will depart […]

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Alaskan energy coalition says it’s frustrated by non-state activists protesting Shell work planned for its territorial waters. UPI/Brian Kersey ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 3 (UPI) — With pressure building on Shell’s port activity in Seattle, an Alaskan energy coalition said the state’s economy won’t be held hostage by external activists. "We don’t like our economy being held hostage by activists from another state," Anne Seneca, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska, said in a statement. With federal approval in hand, Shell said it may start its drilling campaign in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska as early as this summer. Shell’s drilling rig, Polar Pioneer, is stationed at the Port of Seattle ahead of the program’s start. In mid-May, a flotilla of kayakers took to the waters off the coast of Seattle to protest Shell. Advocacy group Friends of the Earth launched a legal challenge against the federal […]

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WASHINGTON Michael Brune is pleased that activists in kayaks are training for another "Paddle in Seattle" to confront an expected Royal Dutch Shell rig on its way to the Arctic to explore for oil. What makes the head of the Sierra Club just as happy is the effect Shell’s Arctic ambitions are having on his own environmental organization. Sierra’s funding drive against the resumption in Arctic drilling has taken in three times more money than usual campaigns by the nation’s oldest green group, said Brune, though he wouldn’t reveal specific amounts. And the group’s petition opposing President Barack Obama’s decision in favor of Shell last month has collected more signatures than any appeal in two years. "Our members are outraged because they believe fighting climate change is a moral challenge and they ask how the president can reconcile this move with his goals on climate change," Brune said. "All […]

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Alaska’s governor tells his Washington state counterpart that Arctic drilling off the state coast "will happen." Photo courtesy of Emily Johnston/350 Seattle SEATTLE, May 29 (UPI) — After a tour of a Shell drilling rig in Seattle, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker said oil is the lifeblood of the state’s economy and arctic drilling "will happen." Walker toured the Polar Pioneer drilling rig parked at the Port of Seattle before meeting with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to discuss Shell’s plans for the arctic waters off the Alaskan coast. "Responsible offshore drilling in the Arctic will have significant economic impacts in Alaska, and I am encouraged by the advancements I saw today," Walker said in a statement. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray expressed opposition to Shell’s lease for a port terminal for use for its drilling plans offshore Alaska. With federal approval in hand, Shell said it may start its drilling campaign […]

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Faced with intense opposition from environmentalists, the director of the US Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management defended the administration’s conditional approval of Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic this summer, a decision she indicated was based on both federal statute and, partly, national security. "There are certain regulatory requirements and [Shell] had met all of those requirements," BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper said in an interview with Platts on Wednesday. "We don’t have the ability to push things back, we can either approve or deny or approve with conditions. [Shell] met all the regulatory requirements … there’s not a basis upon which to reject it." The majority of environmental groups are pushing for an effective ban on US Arctic drilling, a path some felt President Barack Obama may have been moving toward when in late January he designated 9.8 million acres in the Beaufort and Chukchi […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 )

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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 […]

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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 […]

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(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, […]

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LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is pushing ahead with plans to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean near Alaska this summer despite opposition from environmental groups. The Anglo-Dutch oil major is preparing "an armada of 25 vessels" to begin a two-year programme to explore two to three wells in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska, Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said on Thursday. "We are currently on track. Some of the permits are issued at the last moment," he told reporters. Although Shell had to pull out of the region in 2012 after an oil rig ran aground, the Arctic oil reserve "remains a massive value opportunity," Simon said. Shell has submitted plans to explore the Arctic to the U.S. Interior Department after the Obama administration last month upheld a 2008 Arctic lease sale, clearing an important hurdle for Shell. The Department of […]

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Petty Officer Third Class Melissa McKenzie of the Coast Guard’s 14th District in Honolulu confirmed the Coast Guard received word from Blue Marlin crew members that a group had boarded the vessel. The office did not receive a request for assistance. The Polar Pioneer left Malaysia in early March. It is one of two drill rigs Shell hopes to use for exploratory drilling during the summer open water season in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast if it can obtain all necessary permits. Shell last drilled in Arctic Ocean waters in 2012. Using two vessels, the company drilled pilot holes and performed other preliminary work in both the Chukchi and the Beaufort seas. Shell was prohibited from drilling into oil-bearing rock because it did not have required response equipment on hand. The company experienced problems in the challenging conditions, culminating with the drill vessel Kulluk, which was used […]

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Shell reviews next steps offshore Alaska after federal government weighs in on 2008 lease sale. Photo by Kyle Waters/Shutterstock ANCHORAGE, Alaska, April 2 (UPI) — Shell said there are a series of contingencies to consider after a U.S. federal decision to reaffirm a lease for the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska. The Department of Interior this week affirmed a 2008 lease sale for exploration in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska. The decision clears the way for a formal review of exploration plans in the region, which will include an environmental analysis. The lease was tied in up the court system amid complaints about the extent of environmental vetting. Shell, which devoted about $5 billion and more than eight years of work for its arctic oil exploration off Alaska’s coast in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, said the decision clears the way for a review […]

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WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) – The U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday upheld a 2008 lease sale in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, moving Royal Dutch Shell a step closer to returning to oil and gas exploration in the Arctic since it suffered mishaps in the region in 2012. "The Arctic is an important component of the Administration’s national energy strategy, and we remain committed to taking a thoughtful and balanced approach to oil and gas leasing and exploration offshore Alaska," said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will next consider Shell’s exploration plan and perform an environmental assessment on it, which could take at least 30 days. Shell lost control of a massive oil rig called the Kulluk in 2012, which eventually ran aground. But in anticipation of returning to the region for the first time since then, Shell has already moved rigs to Alaska. […]

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Shell is moving oil rigs to Alaska ahead of the possible resumption of controversial drilling activities as the oil major awaits the green light from US authorities. LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is moving oil rigs to Alaska ahead of the possible resumption of controversial drilling activities as the oil major awaits the green light from U.S. authorities. The Anglo-Dutch oil major hopes to revive its Arctic drilling programme two years after the grounding of a rig in Alaska that led to a huge uproar from environmental groups. But even before getting the go-ahead from the U.S. interior secretary, Shell is moving the drilling rigs Noble Discoverer and Polar Pioneer to the area in anticipation of the short operations window in summer. The vessel are "heading to North America ahead of a potential 2015 drilling season," a Shell spokeswoman told Reuters. "Any final decision to go […]

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Following years of legal wrangling, ExxonMobil Corp. has resumed drilling in the high-pressure Point Thomson gas-condensate field on Alaska’s North Slope near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).  Development of Continue Reading

Sign up for our daily Energy Newsletter Shell says it expects to proceed with drilling program in arctic waters off the coast of Alaska this year. Photo by Kyle Waters/Shutterstock THE HAGUE, Netherlands, March 12 (UPI) — Drilling in the arctic waters of Alaska should proceed this year assuming timely approval from the U.S. federal government, Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday. Shell’s preliminary drilling program in arctic waters offshore Alaska in 2012 was plagued by problems, including a grounded drilling rig, violations of air pollution limits, engine failures on a tow ship and an oil spill containment system damaged during testing. Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said in an annual report , published Thursday, the Interior Department was reviewing a supplementary environmental impact statement on operations in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. "We anticipate that the Department of Interior will continue to work in accordance with their proposed […]

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Here’s a Jeopardy!- style question for you: “Eight different species of whales can be seen in these two American seas.” Unless you’re an Iñupiaq, a marine biologist, or an Arctic enthusiast like me, it’s a pretty good guess that you can’t tell me what those seas are or what those whales are either. The answer: the Chukchi Sea and the adjacent Beaufort Sea, off Arctic Alaska, and you can commonly spot bowhead, beluga, and grey whales there, while fin whales, minkes, humpbacks, killer whales, and narwhals are all venturing into these seas ever more often as the Arctic and its waters continue to warm rapidly. The problem, however, is that the major oil company Royal Dutch Shell wants to drill in the Chukchi Sea this summer and that could, in the long term, spell doom for one of the last great, relatively untouched oceanic environments on the planet. Let […]

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