BOEM asks Shell for more information

Having reviewed Shell’s revised Chukchi Sea exploration plan, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has asked the company for more information. Shell, hoping to recommence its Chukchi Sea exploration drilling program in the summer of 2014, had filed its revised plan on Nov. 6. BOEM must deem the plan complete before releasing it for public comment. In a Nov. 29 letter to Shell, David Johnston, BOEM regional supervisor, Office of Leasing and Plans, said that additional information is needed before the agency can make that completeness determination.

Information that BOEM views as missing from the plan includes details of recent modifications to the Noble Discoverer drill ship. The agency also wants some additional information relating to the Polar Pioneer, the semi-submersible drilling rig that Shell has contracted as a replacement for its damaged Kulluk floating drilling platform. BOEM also says it needs more detailed information about some other vessels in Shell’s drilling fleet, about an expanded man camp planned for Barrow and about some environmental issues.

BOEM also says that Shell’s plan does not include sufficient information to adequately assess air emissions from the company’s Chukchi Sea operations. The agency has taken over Arctic outer continental shelf air quality permitting from the Environmental Protection Agency but, rather than issuing an air permit, will assess compliance with air quality laws and regulations as part of its review of Shell’s exploration plan.

Johnston, in his letter, confirmed that Shell has also filed an integrated plan for its proposed Arctic operations, as required by one of the findings from a Department of the Interior review of Shell’s 2012 Arctic exploration activities. That plan, required to be more detailed than a traditional exploration plan, is still under BOEM review and may cover some of the information gaps identified in the exploration plan, Johnston commented.

—Alan Bailey