|
Shell’s Chukchi plan out for comment BOEM has determined exploration drilling plan complete; Shell says it still hasn’t made a final decision on 2012 drilling program Alan Bailey Petroleum News
On Nov. 16 the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management published for public review Shell’s plan for exploration drilling in the Chukchi Sea, starting in 2012. The BOEM move signals that the agency has reviewed Shell’s plan and deemed the plan complete and sufficiently comprehensive for agency analysis and for an environmental assessment of Shell’s specific planned activities.
The agency wants comments on issues for consideration in the plan’s environmental assessment by Nov. 26. And separately the agency wants comments on the plan contents by Dec. 7.
“Today’s announcement by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) that Shell’s 2012 Chukchi Sea plan of exploration has been deemed submitted is welcome news and adds to our confidence that we will be drilling our Alaska leases next summer,” said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith in a Nov. 16 email. “Prior to this determination, we responded to several requests from the agency for additional information related to this shallow-water exploration plan and we look forward to a final determination on Dec. 16. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor permitting progress, including the status of our oil spill response contingency plan (C-Plan) — a version of which had been previously approved before the addition of an Arctic capping and containment system.”
Burger prospect Shell plans to use the drillship Noble Discoverer to drill up to three wells per year in the Chukchi Sea, beginning in 2012 and focusing on the Burger prospect, a 25-mile-diameter structure that is known to hold a major natural gas pool some 80 miles offshore the western end of Alaska’s North Slope. Shell has said that, based in part on some recent 3-D seismic data it has acquired, it hopes to make a major oil discovery at Burger.
The company also plans to use its Kulluk floating drilling platform to drill in its Beaufort Sea Sivulliq and Torpedo prospects, starting in 2012. BOEM has already given conditional approval to Shell’s Beaufort Sea exploration plan, although that agency decision has been appealed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued the air quality permits that Shell needs for its Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea drilling operations, although some Native groups and environmental organizations have made an appeal to the Environmental Appeals Board over the permit that covers the Chukchi Sea.
And there is an ongoing appeal in the U.S. District Court in Alaska over the validity of the lease sale in which Shell purchased its Chukchi Sea leases.
Decision needed Shell has said that it needed to make a decision in late October on whether to initiate the complex process of activating its extensive Arctic drilling fleet. The company has said that a final decision will depend on the status of the various permits that the company requires.
However, during a Nov. 16 speech in Anchorage at the Resource Development Council’s annual conference Pete Slaiby, Shell’s Alaska vice president, said that the company had not yet made a final decision on its 2012 drilling program. Activation of the drilling assets will require “more certainty … than we have now,” Slaiby said. In particular, the company is still waiting for approval of its oil spill contingency plans, he said.
Shell’s intent is still to drill in two theaters in 2012, using two drilling rigs for an open water season that would last from July to the end of October, Slaiby said.
“As of today I remain cautiously optimistic that we’re going to get there,” he said.
This is a question about how to do development in the Arctic in the right way, using safe and responsible programs; protecting the environment; creating jobs for Alaskans; and providing opportunities for the communities in which Shell works, Slaiby said.
“It’s going to open up the door for everybody to be successful in the long run,” he said.
| 