Royal Dutch Shell Plc  .com Rotating Header Image

Alaska Dispatch

Shell’s disastrous tax dodge

Screen Shot 2014-03-24 at 09.17.21

Photo Courtesy Mark Meyer / Greenpeace

Extracts from an article by Jim Paulin, Dutch Harbor Fisherman, published 23 March 2014 by AlaskaDispatch under the headline: Southwest Alaska municipalities want bigger share of oil royalties 

Impacts are already being felt from the arrival of Royal Dutch Shell in Alaska. The arctic-class oil rig Kulluk grounded in the Kodiak archipelago New Year’s Eve, as the rig left on a schedule designed to avoid a potential tax bill of $6 million in Unalaska, raising serious concerns of damage to the environment. None of those fears were realized in that incident, though it clearly showed the potential for harm. The cost to Shell in responding to the near-disaster makes $6 million seem small by comparison. In addition, Alaska’s government says the rig is exempt from local taxes because it wasn’t drilling in state waters, which extend up to three miles from shore. Shell has suspended exploration this year, to give it time to fix its drill rigs. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Release of Interior’s Arctic standards for offshore oil development delayed

Screen Shot 2013-11-01 at 09.31.18Arctic-specific standards to guide offshore oil operations — rules crafted in response to Shell’s trouble-plagued 2012 drilling season — will be issued later than expected, the head of a key federal agency said on Wednesday.

Tick tock: Kulluk’s countdown to disaster unveiled

Screen Shot 2013-05-21 at 09.55.13

Yereth RosenNovember 20, 2013

Arctic-specific standards to guide offshore oil operations — rules crafted in response to Shell’s trouble-plagued 2012 drilling season — will be issued later than expected, the head of a key federal agency said on Wednesday.

A draft version of the new standards, initially expected by the end of the year, is now expected in early 2014, said Tommy Beaudreau, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and acting assistant Interior secretary for lands and minerals. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell pulls back on Arctic drilling near Russia’s Sakhalin Island

Screen Shot 2013-05-21 at 09.55.13

Alaska Dispatch: October 18, 2013

An environmental group opposed to drilling in the sub-Arctic says that Sakhalin Energy has pulled back on plans for two new oil drilling platforms off Sakhalin Island. Pacific Environment says Royal Dutch Shell and Gazprom decided not to move ahead with a new mobile platform in 2014 and delayed a decision on a permanent platform until 2017. Pacific Environment says that the platforms would threaten the survival of the Western Gray Whale, of which there are only about 150 alive. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s spill-response training in remote Alaska villages a first step for new company

Screen Shot 2013-01-11 at 20.09.51Federal regulators allowed the company to start drilling in two locations, but made it stop short of going deep enough to reach oil or gas, because all the spill-prevention equipment the company had promised wasn’t yet on site. But after the floating drill rig Kulluk snapped free of its tow and grounded in a New Year’s Eve storm in the Gulf of Alaska enroute to Seattle, Shell put Arctic drilling on hold for the summer season of 2013. With its drill rigs sent to Asia for repairs, Shell hasn’t said if, or when, it’s coming back to finish the job. Shell has already spent more than $5 billion on its endeavor.

Screen Shot 2013-02-18 at 08.45.23

Alex DeMarban: October 12, 2013

An impoverished group of Northwest Alaska villages whose residents hunt walrus and seals to survive have banded together to form a corporation to capitalize on an economic boom on the U.S. side of the Arctic, should that day ever come.Most importantly, the fledgling Bering Sea Alliance wants villagers involved in whatever development occurs so it’s done responsibly. That includes being trained to respond to a spill, an increasing possibility with growing numbers of freighters steaming through the 50-mile-wide Bering Strait [3], gateway to the Arctic Ocean that the seven villages call home.”We wanted to leave nothing to chance as it related to the resources our villages depend on,” said Art Ivanoff of Unalakleet, the company’s chief executive and its only employee at the moment. “It’s marine life that sustains our villages and we’re trying to find a way to have the tools in the toolbox to respond to an incident if one were to occur.”

Hazardous materials workshop

The alliance has been pushing aggressively to let oil companies as well as state and federal agencies know it’s available to provide such things as emergency response services or manpower for a cleanup, he said.The group’s efforts will bear their first fruit early next week. Royal Dutch Shell agreed to sponsor a hazardous materials training workshop in Wales for 12 to 24 residents living in that village at the tip of the Bering Strait [4], said Ivanoff.The Netherlands-based oil giant is also interested in providing the training in the six other villages that, along with Wales, launched the alliance in August, Ivanoff said.Shell’s decision to pay for the three-day training could be a hopeful sign for Alaskans worried that the company will abandon the exploratory drilling they started in summer 2012, when Shell became the first company in two decades to punch into the U.S. Arctic Ocean seafloor.Federal regulators allowed the company to start drilling in two locations, but made it stop short of going deep enough to reach oil or gas, because all the spill-prevention equipment the company had promised wasn’t yet on site.But after the floating drill rig Kulluk snapped free of its tow and grounded in a New Year’s Eve storm in the Gulf of Alaska enroute to Seattle [5], Shell put Arctic drilling on hold for the summer season of 2013. With its drill rigs sent to Asia for repairs, Shell hasn’t said if, or when, it’s coming back to finish the job. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Listening sessions start process for Alaska-focused Arctic drilling rules

Screen Shot 2013-01-11 at 20.09.51Looking for lessons in Shell’s disastrous campaign to drill offshore in the Arctic, the Interior Department on Thursday launched an effort to create special rules for oil and gas activity in federal waters off Alaska’s coasts.

Screen Shot 2013-02-18 at 08.45.23

Alex DeMarban: June 6, 2013

Looking for lessons in Shell’s disastrous campaign to drill offshore in the Arctic, the Interior Department on Thursday launched an effort to create special rules for oil and gas activity in federal waters off Alaska’s coasts.

Leading the hearing was a former Alaskan who’s risen into the top echelons of the department. Tommy Beaudreau, an assistant secretary at Interior who oversees energy development in the U.S. offshore, said his years in Alaska have left him mindful of the promise of resource development and the dangers it presents. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

New leadership for Shell’s Arctic operations

Screen Shot 2013-05-02 at 07.51.38

Blunders during the 2012 drilling season, including permitting and technical issues with the Noble Discoverer drillship and the grounding of the Kulluk conical drilling unit, led Shell to halt its 2013 drilling season. Courtesy Shell

Screen Shot 2013-02-18 at 08.45.23

Suzanna Caldwell:May 1, 2013

Four months after a Royal Dutch Shell drillship ran aground in Alaska, raising questions about the company’s offshore drilling operations, the oil giant has appointed a new executive in charge of Arctic operations.

Ann Pickard, currently chairwoman of Shell’s Australian operations, will begin overseeing Shell’s Arctic operations in June.

Pickard will take over as executive vice president of Shell’s “Arctic, Upstream Americas” — part of a restructuring within Shell that separates Arctic operations from other divisions, said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith in an email Wednesday. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Moving on, Shell signs agreement with Russia to seek oil in Arctic

Screen Shot 2013-01-21 at 15.01.00

Screen Shot 2013-04-17 at 14.19.16

Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/JPL, MISR Team

Eye on the Arctic: April 16, 2013

Although Royal Dutch Shell has announced a hiatus this summer for exploring the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean off of Alaska, the energy giant isn’t slowing down.  Shell has signed an agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom, allowing it to explore and develop petroleum prospects in Russia’s Arctic.

“Gazprom and Shell already partner in the Russian shelf development. The new accords enable us to explore the potential of our joint capabilities,” said Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, said in a press release. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Oil in Arctic: Learning to juggle, with chainsaws

Air permit emission limits were grossly violated yet drill operations continued.; Multiple critical engine failures also demonstrate their support vessels’ failed under stress. The eventual grounding of Shell’s giant mobile oil-drilling rig, the Kulluk, off Kodiak Island conveys a serious lack of planning to save a few dollars (before you go boating, check the weather).Could these mishaps be chalked up to bad luck? No. These operational bungles were all preventable.

Screen Shot 2013-01-21 at 15.01.00

Screen Shot 2013-02-24 at 10.21.05

Waves crash over the mobile offshore drilling unit Kulluk where it sits aground on the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, Alaska, Jan. 1, 2013. US Coast Guard photo

Daniel Lum: February 22, 2013

Looking back at an eventful season in offshore drilling, one must consider the challenges of the Arctic Ocean in tandem with the limitations of industry trying to operate so far north. Shell Oil has skated through one operational failure after another, a credit to their spokesman, without real consequence or permit restriction.

Air permit emission limits were grossly violated yet drill operations continued. Rigging and towline failures show that moving (and even securing) Shell’s mobile drill units is a challenge. A failed capping system limited the depth to which they could drill this season, requiring repairs thousands of miles away. Multiple critical engine failures also demonstrate their support vessels’ failed under stress. The eventual grounding of Shell’s giant mobile oil-drilling rig, the Kulluk, off Kodiak Island conveys a serious lack of planning to save a few dollars (before you go boating, check the weather). read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Evidence Shell Tax Dodging was Behind Kulluk debacle

By John Donovan

The Alaska Dispatch has quoted from an email that Shell Alaska spokesperson Curtis Smith (right) sent on 27 December 2012.

Curtis said in his email:

“it’s fair to say the current tax structure related to vessels of this type influenced the timing of our departure.”

He also said it could cost “multiple millions” if the Kulluk was still in Alaska waters Jan. 1.

I think we can safely assume that Mr Curtis will have earned a big black mark against his name at Shell PR for telling the truth. That is not a quality that Shell management is looking for in a spokesperson. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Safety, pollution issues hold up Shell drillship in Alaska

Ben Anderson | Dec 27, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell’s Noble Discoverer — a 571-foot vessel integral to the company’s Arctic oil drilling aspirations — has been held up in Seward for several weeks to address what the Coast Guard described as  “pretty serious” issues with the ship’s safety and pollution- prevention systems.

According to Petty Officer Kip Wadlow, a spokesman with the Coast Guard in Juneau, the Noble Discoverer was put under what’s known as “port state control detention” on Nov. 29 when the drill ship was towed into Seward, thanks to a problem with its propulsion system. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Will Shell Oil’s Arctic ‘beer can’ hold up better in second-chance containment trial?

Alex DeMarban | Dec 13, 2012

The containment dome Royal Dutch Shell hopes never to use has been transformed, following an accident this September that left it “crushed like a beer can” — hampering the company’s groundbreaking effort to suck oil from the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s North Slope.

The failed Puget Sound sea trial for the unique dome, essentially an undersea oil-sucking vacuum cleaner, plus construction delays on the Arctic Challenger barge that will house it, stymied Shell’s plans this summer to drill deep enough to reach oil this summer. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Noble Discoverer stack fire contained by Shell Oil personnel

Eric Christopher Adams, Alex DeMarban | Nov 16, 2012

A drill rig involved in Shell Oil’s inaugural season of Arctic oil exploration briefly caught fire Friday morning in Dutch Harbor, an international port in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, according to the Unalaska Fire Department.

Firefighters responded to calls of a fire at the U.S. Coast Guard docks at 10:22 a.m. Friday, where a plume of black smoke was seen coming off of a vessel, according to Unalaska Fire Chief Abner Hoage. As firefighters approached the docks there was an explosion aboard the Noble Discoverer, Hoage said. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Oil’s next Arctic challenge?

Alex DeMarban | Oct 11, 2012

Believing the U.S. Arctic Ocean contains one of the world’s richest undiscovered oil and gas plays, Royal Dutch Shell is already considering what it will take to ship vast amounts of oil across Alaska.

The oil giant might just find the bonanza next summer. In recent weeks, it’s punched the first exploratory holes into the U.S. Arctic seabed in more than two decades. Federal regulators won’t let Shell drill into potential oil-bearing zones this season. But that’s expected to happen after the sea ice begins to melt next summer, now that the company’s oil-spill containment barge has won Coast Guard certification. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell gains approval for early well work in Beaufort, seeks OK from whalers

Alex DeMarban | Sep 20, 2012

Kulluk shell offshore rig Shell Alaska photo

Federal regulators on Thursday gave Royal Dutch Shell the green light to move forward with preliminary well work in the Beaufort Sea off northeast Alaska as soon as the subsistence whaling season ends.

The company is also working to obtain support from Inupiat Eskimo whalers that could allow Shell to move its drill rig over the Sivalluq prospect in the Beaufort, 20 miles north of Point Thomson off Alaska’s northeast coast, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Arctic rig departs, Shell meets with US regulators on change of plans

Alex DeMarban | Aug 21, 2012

Attempting to salvage a shortened drilling season in the Arctic, Royal Dutch Shell is working with federal regulators on a plan that might allow it to do some preparatory drilling soon, according to Financial Times. In anticipation, on Monday Shell’s drilling rig, the Kulluk, departed Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands, heading for Arctic waters.

Europe’s largest oil company had hoped to be drilling in the US Arctic Ocean in July, but it now appears it’ll be lucky if it’s drilling next month. Shell had originally hoped to drill up to five wells in the Arctic’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas this season, but the company has scaled back plans to just one to two wells. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Alaska election: Shell dives into state politics and ‘super PACs’ emerge

Amanda Coyne | Jul 31, 2012

As Royal Dutch Shell prepares to explore for offshore oil in Alaska’s Arctic, the company is also waging an effort against a ballot initiative that supporters say would restore the voice of Alaskans in federal coastal decisions.

Shell has contributed $150,000 to the Vote No on 2 campaign, which opposes reinstating the controversial Coastal Zone Management program, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Vote No on 2 has raised $768,000 — far more than the $64,000 raised by the Alaska Sea Party, the proponents of reviving Coastal Zone Management. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Comment Rules

  • Please show respect to the opinions of others no matter how seemingly far-fetched.
  • Abusive, foul language, and/or divisive comments may be deleted without notice.
  • Each blog member is allowed limited comments, as displayed above the comment box.
  • Comments must be limited to the number of words displayed above the comment box.
  • Please limit one comment after any comment posted per post.