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Shell starts drilling in Chukchi
At 5 p.m. on July 30 the semi-submersible rig Transocean Polar Pioneer started drilling in the Chukchi Sea, as part of Shell’s 2015 Chukchi drilling program, company spokeswoman Megan Baldino has told Petroleum News.
“We remain committed to operating safely and responsibly and adding to Shell’s long history of exploration offshore Alaska,” Baldino said.
Shell is drilling in the Burger prospect, about 70 miles northwest of the Chukchi coastal village of Wainwright. The company is drilling the Burger J well in the southwest quadrant of the prospect. In 2012 the company drilled the top hole section of the Burger A well a few miles to the north. However, an analysis of some recently reprocessed seismic data has indicated that the Burger J is more likely to prove out oil, Shell has said. The Burger prospect is a huge geologic structure about 25 miles in diameter. The prospect is known to hold a major pool of natural gas - Shell hopes to find oil below the gas (see photo).
One well Shell had planned to drill two wells in the Burger prospect during this year’s Arctic open water season. In addition to the Polar Pioneer, the company has the drill ship Noble Discoverer on site in the Chukchi. However, during an analyst call on July 30 following the announcement of Shell’s second quarter results, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said that the company only anticipates drilling one Chukchi well this year.
“We have one well planned for this season over the next weeks, months, so expect results somewhere in September or so,” van Beurden said.
Shell’s authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the unintended minor disturbance of walruses and polar bears prohibits the concurrent drilling of wells less than 15 miles apart, a restriction that would appear to rule out the simultaneous drilling of multiple wells in the Burger prospect. But, regardless of how many wells Shell drills, the company needs access to two drilling rigs in order to meet regulatory requirements for the capability to drill a relief well, should a well blowout incapacitate one of the rigs.
And van Beurden expressed his company’s determination to carry out its Chukchi Sea exploration program.
“In Alaska … we are planning to drill the Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea in 2015 and ’16 to test what could be a multibillion-barrel oil field for Shell, with further exploration potential in the more general acreage that we hold there,” van Beurden said.
Fennica returning The icebreaker M/V Fennica, under contract to Shell, has departed Portland, Oregon, en route for the Chukchi, having been repaired following an incident near Dutch Harbor in which the vessel’s hull was gashed by what appears to have been an uncharted subsea shoal. The Fennica is carrying Shell’s well capping stack, a piece of equipment that the company will need to have stationed in the Chukchi before the drilling reaches a potential hydrocarbon bearing zone.
Environmental activist organization Greenpeace had attempted to block the departure of the Fennica from Portland by suspending protestors from a bridge across the Willamette River. However, this protest was dispersed following an order from the federal District Court in Alaska, telling Greenpeace that it was in civil contempt of a preliminary injunction banning Greenpeace from interfering with any of the vessels in Shell’s drilling fleet.
The District Court had ordered fines on Greenpeace for each hour that activists remained in place, with those fines escalating from $2,500 to $10,000 per hour, depending on how long the protest lasted. According to media reports the U.S. Coast Guard was involved in clearing the demonstration, which apparently infringed a safety zone that the Coast Guard had mandated around vessels in Shell’s exploration fleet.
Seattle lawsuit According to an Associated Press report, on July 31 a Washington state judge rejected a lawsuit challenging the lease of a terminal in the Port of Seattle to Shell for staging vessels engaged in the company’s Arctic offshore drilling program. Environmental groups, opposed to Shell’s Arctic activities, have tried to block Shell’s use of the terminal, arguing that Shell’s use of the port does not comply with the terms of the port’s land use permit. The court found that terminal is properly permitted for Shell’s intended use, the Associated Press report says. The report also says that the plaintiffs in the case are considering an appeal.
- ALAN BAILEY
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