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Shell’s Odum bullish on gas, upbeat on Alaska outer continental shelf
Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Co., the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell, told the Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum on Nov. 29 that in the United States Shell has a four-pronged approach towards capitalizing on the shale gas phenomenon that is revolutionizing the world energy situation.
“The gas revolution is a creator of new jobs, a catalyst for a renaissance in American manufacturing, a bridge to future renewables and, with carbon capture and storage, a destination fuel for an increasingly carbon-constrained economy,” Odum said.
The four components of Shell’s approach consist of channeling gas into the chemicals industry, converting gas into liquids products like synthetic diesel, opening up opportunities for gas use as a transportation fuel and marketing liquefied natural gas exports.
Working together Odum also said that Shell’s 2012 exploration drilling program in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas illustrated the way in which industry and government can work together to secure an opportunity while protecting the environment.
It is not possible to balance the rewards and risks of operating in as environmentally sensitive area as the Arctic outer continental shelf “unless government, society and business work with one another to define expectations, agree on operations standards and collaborate on solutions,” Odum said, adding that both of the past two administrations had “looked hard” at Shell’s Alaska plans.
Following a delayed start to its summer Arctic drilling season and problems with the company’s oil spill containment barge, Shell drilled the top sections of two wells, one in the Chukchi and one in the Beaufort, in 2012.
“There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that massive resources of energy lie under the waters off the North Slope of Alaska,” Odum said. “And those resources could be critical to the nation’s economy as well as its long-term security.”
—Alan Bailey
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