Oil Patch Insider: Shell hires, Pioneer wins award

Although media attention on Shell’s problems with its Alaska Arctic exploration program and the deferral of similar programs by ConocoPhillips and Statoil has tended to question the oil companies’ continuing commitment to the Arctic offshore, a recent half-page advertisement by Shell in the Anchorage Daily News would seem to imply that the company’s Alaska program is still alive and well. The advertisement, seeking job applications from “engineering and technical professionals,” says that Shell is seeking to fill immediate vacancies based in Anchorage. Those vacancies include positions such as a marine contracts manager, an ice management lead, well engineers and well supervisors, the advertisement says.

In February Shell announced that it was postponing its planned 2013 exploration drilling program in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas to 2014 at the earliest. Both of the Arctic drilling vessels that the company has been using are currently under repair and upgrade in Asian shipyards.

—Alan Bailey