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Shell Alaska boss: ‘There will be spills’

Nov 30th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell’s Alaska vice-president has admitted he believes “there will be spills” by companies drilling for oil in the Alaskan Arctic.

Environmental campaigners oppose drilling in the Arctic

Emily Gosden By 6:35PM GMT 29 Nov 2012

Shell is one of a handful of companies exploring in Arctic waters and began drilling off Alaska this year.

Environmentalists oppose drilling on the grounds a spill would devastate the environment.

Asked what people were concerned about, Mr Slaiby told the BBC: “There’s no sugarcoating this, it is [an] oil spill.”

“If you ask me will there ever be spills, I imagine there will be spills,” he said.

“Will there be a spill large enough to impact people’s subsistence? My view is no, I don’t believe that would happen. read more

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Committee hears lessons learned from Shell’s Arctic OCS operations

Oct 19th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Week of October 21, 2012

It was standing room only on Oct. 11 as members of the public crammed into a meeting room in the University of Alaska Anchorage, to hear testimony on lessons learned from Shell’s drilling venture in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas this year. The occasion was a field meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. And Sen. Mark Begich, the lone committee member at the hearing, sat at a table facing representatives from Shell, government agencies and North Slope communities, each of whom presented their perspective on the summer’s events in the Arctic offshore. read more

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Shell Seeks Extension to Arctic Leases

Oct 19th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Dow Jones Newswires: Published October 19, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) has been in talks with the U.S. government over extending its leases for oil development in the Arctic seas north of Alaska, after its drilling program was held up by legal actions and objections from regulators, reports the Financial Times.

The first of Shell’s Arctic leases to expire will run out in 2015 and the oil multinational has begun talking to the U.S. interior department in the hope of agreeing early extensions to its drilling rights, it said. read more

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Shell Oil’s next Arctic challenge?

Oct 12th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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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

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Begich hearing focuses on Shell’s drilling offshore in Alaska

Oct 12th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Published: October 11, 2012

By LISA DEMER — [email protected]

Anchorage — Better ice forecasting in the Alaska Arctic. More Coast Guard resources. More jobs for North Slope residents. A share of oil revenue for Alaska. Streamlined permits and regulation.

Those are some of the ideas presented Thursday to a U.S. Senate panel holding a field hearing in Anchorage on what was learned from this year’s offshore drilling by Royal Dutch Shell in the Alaska Arctic.

The overflow crowd also heard specifics on what happened to a Shell oil spill response system damaged during testing. read more

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Oil boom brings hope, anxiety to Alaska town

Sep 23rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Shell’s drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea promise an economic boom in Wainwright, Alaska. But some see the transformation as a threat to the ancient indigenous culture there.

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times: September 23, 2012

WAINWRIGHT, Alaska — It was the down slope of August, and in the icy winds and freezing rain that masquerade as summer on the Arctic coast, Shell Alaska had to move its community barbecue indoors to the school gym.

Billed as the oil company’s thank-you to the Iñupiat Eskimo village that is about to become a base for offshore drilling operations, the event featured free hamburgers, beans and something rarely seen up in the Far North — plates heaped with fresh watermelon, oranges and bananas. Shell Alaska Vice President Peter E. Slaiby was in the middle of the room, raffling off jackets emblazoned with the Shell logo. read more

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Shell Arctic Setback Shows Risks, Environmentalists Say

Sep 20th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By Jim Snyder – Sep 18, 2012 6:13 PM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s decision to abandon oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic waters this year underscores the risks of working in harsh maritime conditions, environmentalists said.

“We think it’s crazy,” said Niel Lawrence, senior attorney for the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council, which has opposed exploring in the region. “And the evidence is mounting that shows it’s crazy.”

Sub-freezing temperatures, high sea swells and ice floes make the Arctic off the Alaska coast a particularly difficult location for offshore drilling, the NRDC and other critics of drilling in the region say. read more

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Shell begins petroleum drilling off Alaska coast

Sep 10th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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by Dan Joling, Associated Press: 10 Sept 2012

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — More than four years after Royal Dutch Shell paid $2.8 billion to the federal government for petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea, a company vessel on Sunday morning sent a drill bit into the ocean floor, beginning preliminary work on an exploratory well 70 miles off the northwest coast of Alaska.

Drilling began at 4:30 a.m., said Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith. Shell Alaska vice president Pete Slaiby called it historic.

“It’s the first time a drill bit has touched the sea floor in the U.S. Chukchi Sea in more than two decades,” Slaiby said in a prepared statement. “This is an exciting time for Alaska and for Shell. We look forward to continued drilling progress throughout the next several weeks and to adding another chapter to Alaska’s esteemed oil and gas history.” read more

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Shell can start drill prep in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea

Aug 31st, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By DAN JOLING, Associated Press: 31 August 2012

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC has been given a permit to begin preparation work at exploratory drilling sites in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast while it awaits certification for its oil spill response barge, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Thursday.

“We are allowing certain limited preparatory activities that we know can be done in a safe manner,” he said in a teleconference with reporters. read more

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Arctic Drilling Will Begin This Year, Shell Official Says

Aug 18th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By

A version of this article appeared in print on August 18, 2012, on page B2 of the New York edition

HOUSTON — Despite embarrassing delays and trouble with its equipment, Shell remains confident that it will get final approval from regulators and be able to begin drilling for oil in Arctic waters off the Alaskan coast this summer, the oil company’s top Alaska executive said on Friday.

“We absolutely expect to drill this year,” Peter E. Slaiby, Shell’s vice president in charge of Alaskan operations, said in a telephone interview. “Our confidence continues to grow, and we are feeling good.” read more

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Shell Says There’s No Evidence Drifting Rig Grounded: Some Witnesses Disagree

Jul 16th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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“Meanwhile, environmentalists say they’re deeply concerned over the incident. Eric Myers, of the Audubon Society, says that if the Shell Vessel ever experiences an uncontrolled drift in the Arctic — while connected to a pressurized, subsea oil pipeline — there could be a major spill.”

By Dan Fiorucci6:27 p.m. AKDT, July 15, 2012

ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Gale force winds have now died down in Unalaska, and a preliminary examination of the hull of the drilling vessel “Noble Discoverer” has turned up no sign of damage.

Just yesterday (Saturday), the 14-thousand ton RIG drifted dangerously close to shore in Dutch Harbor — when its anchor dragged. Pete Slaiby, the Vice President of Shell Oil in Alaska says the SHIP drifted approximately 100 yards. Sustained winds in Dutch Harbor were clocked at 35 miles an hour at the time the Discoverer started its uncontrolled drift, at around 5:20 P.M. read more

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Protesters say Shell can’t freeze them out

Jul 1st, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Published 11:02 p.m., Friday, June 29, 2012

WASHINGTON – An aggressive legal strategy by Shell Oil Co. that aims to keep environmentalists from interfering with its drilling rigs has only emboldened activists who plan to protest and closely scrutinize the company’s Arctic drilling operations this summer.

Greenpeace activists have set sail in an ice-class ship, the Esperanza, and will be following Shell’s work from a distance, checking on marine life and using acoustic equipment to monitor how much sound is coming from the company’s oil drilling. read more

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Shell Faces Pushback As Alaska Drilling Nears

Jun 20th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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June 19, 2012

by

The federal government could soon give the final go-ahead for Royal Dutch Shell to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean. Shell has spent $4 billion since 2007 to prepare for this work, and is hoping to tap into vast new deposits of oil.

But the plan to drill exploratory wells is controversial — opposed by environmental groups and some indigenous people as well.

You can get a feel for this controversy by stepping aboard the Nanuq. Shell plunked down $100 million for this 300-foot-long, Arctic-class spill-response vessel. And unlike similar vessels that serve the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico, there’s no foul-smelling black smoke coming out of the stacks. read more

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Shell injunction forces Greenpeace to get creative

Jun 11th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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With a judge ordering its boats to stay away from the oil firm’s Arctic rigs, the anti-drilling organization turns to social media and other means of getting its message out.

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times: June 10, 2012 SEATTLE — One day last week, guests from various engineering and shipping companies around Seattle were invited to a reception at the Space Needle, supposedly hosted by Royal Dutch Shell to celebrate the upcoming debut of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

But most of the guests, it turned out, were actors and activists merely posing as drilling enthusiasts.

They looked on in mock horror as a giant ice sculpture emblazoned with Shell’s corporate logo began spraying a stream of Diet Coke on an elderly woman who was the supposed guest of honor. The woman, who gained fame last year when she was pepper-sprayed by police at an Occupy Seattle protest, shrieked as the emcees grabbed stuffed polar bears to help mop up the spill.

A video of the ensuing chaos quickly gained half a million views on YouTube. read more

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Why Environmentalists Should Support Oil Exploration In Alaska’s Arctic Waters

May 30th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Why Environmentalists Should Support Oil Exploration In Alaska’s Arctic Waters

5/30/2012

Christopher Helman Christopher Helman, Forbes Staff This is a guest column by Bob Reiss. He is author of “The Eskimo and the Oil Man,” just published, for which he spent three years reporting with many trips to Alaska. Reiss has written for Smithsonian, Outside and Parade Magazines on the Arctic, and is the author of 18 books.

I never figured I’d end up siding with the oil company. When I started research on “The Eskimo and The Oil Man” – a book following the battle over offshore oil in the rapidly opening U.S. Arctic – in 2010, I saw no reason to change my mind. I’m green. I wrote a book blaming carbon emissions for global warming. I figured the oil company would turn out to be a bad guy.

Things didn’t turn out the way I thought.

As you read this the battle over Arctic oil heats up. Shell plans to send drill ships north this summer. The company has poured over $4 billion into buying undersea leases and preparation for work in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Shell believes that up to 27 billion barrels of oil – three times as much as has been taken from the Gulf of Mexico in the last two decades – lies off northern Alaska, and claims that energy can be extracted safely, will cut foreign dependence and create thousands of jobs. read more

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Heavy ice could delay start of Shell Alaska’s Arctic drilling

May 27th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By KIM MURPHY 26 May 2012

Los Angeles Times

SEATTLE — The heaviest polar ice in more than a decade could postpone the start of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean until the beginning of August, a delay of up to two weeks, Shell Alaska officials said.

Unveiling a newly refurbished ice-class rig that is poised to begin drilling two exploratory wells this summer in the Beaufort Sea, Shell executives said Friday that the unusually robust sea ice would further narrow what already is a tight window for operations. The company’s $4-billion program is designed to measure the extent of what could be the United States’ most important new inventory of oil and gas. read more

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