Shell Arctic anchor systems to be removed

In something of a postscript to Shell’s now defunct exploration program in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, the company has commissioned service company Fairweather to retrieve anchor equipment from Shell’s offshore sites. Fairweather has applied to the National Marine Fisheries Service for an authorization for the minor disturbance of marine mammals during the anchor retrieval operations.

The three sites involved consist of Sivulliq, in the Beaufort Sea, on the western side of Camden Bay; Burger, in the Chukchi Sea, about 78 miles northwest of the coastal village of Wainwright; and Kakapo in the Chukchi, about 68 miles northwest of the village of Point Lay. Crew changes for the operation may take place in Kotzebue, Wainwright or Prudhoe Bay, the application to the Fisheries Service says.

Fairweather may use a sonar system to obtain accurate images of the anchors and associated gear in preparation for equipment removal. With one or two vessels on site, one vessel will perform each anchor retrieval operation, either using a float rope already attached to the anchor, or using a grappling hook. Depending on the weather conditions and the number of anchors at a site, it should take two to seven days to complete the equipment retrieval operations at a single drilling site, the application says.

- ALAN BAILEY