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WASHINGTON – A top Obama administration official predicted Tuesday that Shell will win government permits to drill for oil in Arctic waters this summer, while the government readies a plan to allow further energy exploration in the region four years from now.
“Having seen the conditions that Shell has already met, it is probable that they are going to get these permits,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.
Salazar stressed that federal regulators are still scrutinizing Shell Oil Co.‘s applications to drill up to five wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, after a test Monday of one of its emergency response systems and in advance of other drills.
An industry safety clearinghouse formed after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is about to kick off a program for certifying outside auditors that the government soon may require to examine offshore operators’ safety plans.
Charlie Williams, executive director of the Houston-based Center for Offshore Safety, said at a meeting with the Houston Chronicle editorial board Tuesday that regulators now allow internal auditors to meet requirements for independent audits of company programs called Safety and Environmental Management Systems.
Nick Mathiason and Oliver Morgan
Sunday June 27, 2004
Leading institutions are selling shares in Shell over concerns about the way the company deals with environmental issues associated with its activities in Africa, the United States and Sakhalin Island off the Russian coast.
As the oil giant braces itself for a stormy annual general meeting tomorrow, two leading fund managers representing blue-chip City institutions have confirmed that they have ditched all their Shell shares.
Socially responsible investment (SRI) funds belonging to Investec Henderson Crosthwaite and Morley Fund Management have sold all Shell shares in recent months. The move is significant, because SRI decisions increasingly affect mainstream analysts’ investment recommendations.
WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday that it was “highly likely” that the agency would grant Shell permits to begin drilling exploratory wells off the North Slope of Alaska as early as next month.
Mr. Salazar, while acknowledging that the Arctic presented unique environmental and safety challenges for oil and gas operations, said he was confident that Shell would meet the Interior Department’s new standards for offshore drilling. He noted that Shell had successfully tested a new oil spill containment device in Washington State’s Puget Sound in recent days and said he believed the company’s claims that it could collect at least 90 percent of any oil spilled in the event of a well blowout.