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The Shell Oil Co. has abandoned plans to drill for oil this summer in Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, with its long-delayed oil spill containment vessel damaged and still in far off Bellingham.
The gremlins have repeatedly struck the oil giant, which has planned to complete at least five wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Shell said on Monday that it will not complete a single well and limit its drilling to non-oil bearing areas.
“During a final test , the containment dome a
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The Shell Oil Co. has abandoned plans to drill for oil this summer in Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, with its long-delayed oil spill containment vessel damaged and still in far off Bellingham.
The gremlins have repeatedly struck the oil giant, which has planned to complete at least five wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Shell said on Monday that it will not complete a single well and limit its drilling to non-oil bearing areas.
“During a final test , the containment dome aboard the Arctic Challenger was damaged: It is clear that some days will be required to repair and fully assess dome readiness,” Shell said in a statement.
Critics of Shell’s drilling plans — the Beaufort and Chukchi seas are a major polar bear and whale habitat — were jubilant.
“A really BIG NEWS!!! It is not that often we get to share a good news about the environment,” Subhankar Banerjee, photographer-author (“Arctic Voices”, “Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Light and Life”) e-mailed.
“Shell will be back next year to do exploratory drilling, unless we stop them, and we must stop them: So our work will continue,” he added.
Niel Lawrence, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, added: “If you can’t even test your safety systems in calm waters without damaging them, you’ve got no business drilling for oil in the Arctic. Shell is proving it is the gang that can’t drill straight.”
Shell had asked the U.S. Interior Dept. for an extension in the Chukchi Sea beyond the Sept. 24th cutoff date. But Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told the company it must have the containment ship in place.
The 38-year-old Arctic Challenger began sea trials last week after a lengthy retrofit in Bellingham.
“We are disappointed that the (containment) dome has not yet met our stringent acceptance standards,” Shell said, “but as we said all along, we will not conduct any operations until we are satisfied we are fully prepared to do it successfully.”
The oil giant has already invested $4.5 billion for leases and equipment to drill in Actic waters.
The Obama administration made the company delay for a year its plans, due to the Golf oil disaster.
Conservation groups have argued that there is no way to control a spill in Arctic waters, with ice flows and violent storms from Siberia.
The Shell drilling ship Noble Discoverer drifts near shore near Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island, Alaska, in mid-July. The Coast Guard found no signs of damage or grounding. Photo: Capt. Kristjan B. Laxfoss / AP
Shell has endured its share of mishaps. Its drilling ship, the Noble Discoverer, dragged its anchor in Dutch Harbor in July, and nearly ran aground. When the Noble Discoverer finally reached its drilling site — the Burger Prospect — in the Chukchi Sea earlier this month, it was forced to halt work by the approach of a 30-mile by 12-mile ice flow. to suspend operations.
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