Shell takes delivery of Arctic vessel

On March 24 Shell took delivery of the MV Aiviq, a 360-foot ice-class anchor handler built in Louisiana by Edison Chouest Offshore to support Shell’s planned exploration drilling operations in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Shell said that the Aiviq is one of the most technically advanced polar-class vessels in the world and the first of its kind to be built in the United States.

“This vessel is truly a monument to manpower and a symbol of how Shell is approaching the Arctic,” said Pete Slaiby, Shell’s Alaska vice president. “The Aiviq is another example of our commitment to setting a higher bar in the Alaska offshore and employing thousands of workers along the way.”

A 12-year-old student, Elizabeth Itta, from the Alaska North Slope community of Nuiqsut officially christened the vessel, having won a contest for an essay for giving the vessel a name. Aiviq means “walrus” in the Inupiat language of the North Slope.

The vessel, which has four 5,444-horsepower diesel engines, can cruise at 15 knots in open water and five knots in ice conditions, Shell says.

Although Shell continues to face permit appeals and litigation against its planned Arctic offshore operations, the company is moving ahead with plans to drill up to three wells in the Chukchi Sea and up to two wells in the Beaufort Sea during this year’s summer and fall open water season. During the National Marine Fisheries Service’s annual Arctic Open Water Meeting in early March Michael Macrander, Shell’s Alaska science team lead, said that this year the company plans to use the Aiviq in the Beaufort Sea, in support of the floating drilling platform, the Kulluk.

—Alan Bailey