Damaged Shell icebreaker arrives in Oregon for repairs

Certain oil-rich areas will be temporarily off limits to drilling because of issues with Shell’s safety equipment, and Shell will be prevented from drilling two wells at once. “At a rally last Saturday, protesters in Portland promised to ‘shut the gates of Shell.’ The event even featured a brief speech from Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley who recently introduced a bill that would ban Arctic oil drilling completely”.

Shell now is not permitted to drill into oil-bearing zones because, to do so, BSEE requires that a capping stack be on hand and deployable within 24 hours. Shell had previously gained court orders barring protesters from coming too close to their Arctic fleet vessels. According to the article, Royal Dutch Shell has taken the preliminary steps towards actually drilling in Alaskan Arctic oil bearing zones, but a complex set of conditions must be met to lift the restrictions. As such, Shell is prohibited from conducting simultaneous drilling activity at these wells.

Drilling units and their supporting vessels must depart the Chukchi Sea at the conclusion of each exploration drilling season. The flotilla is scheduled to launch at 4 p.m.

The Burger Prospect is located in about 140 feet of water, 70 miles northwest of the village of Wainwright.

Shell spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said by email earlier this week that receipt of the drilling permits signals the end of the permitting process, and drilling will begin when the area is clear of sea ice.

“The company will comply with all permits, ” Baldino said.

Despite the permit, oil won’t come overnight, of course, and challenges remain.

BSEE Alaska Region Director Mark Fesmire and BSEE personnel re-inspected Shells capping stack on board the M/V Fennica, to verify that the capping stack had not been damaged during the incident in which the Fennicas hull had been breached, BSEE said.

The APDs were approved only after careful review of the adequacy of Shell’s ice management plans in the absence of the M/V Fennica as well as the consistency of the plans with protections in place for marine mammals.

“Neither Shell nor the oil industry as a whole has learned the lessons of 2010 or 2012, ” said Andrew Sharpless, CEO of Oceana. The governments approvals for Shells drilling fly in the face of common sense.”.