Arctic drilling support vessel heading to Oregon for repair

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said on Monday an icebreaker crucial to planned Arctic oil drilling will be sent to Portland, Oregon to fix a gash in its hull, but the issue is not expected to delay the beginning of drilling off Alaska later in July.

The Fennica’s primary job for Shell is carrying equipment for stopping a well blowout.

Arctic offshore drilling is strongly opposed by environmental groups that say oil drilling is too risky in a fragile environment that features brutal storms and sea ice. As it sailed under the direction of a registered state marine pilot, the ship struck an underwater obstruction that created a hull gash about 3 feet long and a half-inch wide.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says its mapping ship Fairweather found rocky areas less than 30 feet deep near Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. A capping stack is a roughly 30-foot device that can establish a metal-to-metal connection on a well head, turning the tap off on gushing oil or connecting to hoses and directing crude oil to vessels on the surface.

The unfortunate departure of Fennica underscores the dangers of conducting drilling operations in the fragile ecosystems of the Arctic, environmentalists claimed. That mission may have factored in the decision by Arctia, maritime classification society Det Norske Veritas and Shell to pursue permanent repairs with specialized steel in a dry dock, instead of a swifter, but temporary, patch in Dutch Harbor.

The Fennica is an icebreaker and could also be used to manage icebergs floating near drilling vessels. The return trip will depend on weather.“Theres no specific timeline, ” Smith said. “We just want to make sure it’s a safe journey”.

The Fennica is being repaired in Portland and not in ports in and near Seattle, where two Shell oil rigs had been stored before departing for Alaska, because those facilities are only available for light maintenance, Smith said.

The Fennica is one of two ice management vessels in Shell’s fleet of almost 30 ships it expects to bring to the Chukchi off northern Alaska this summer. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.