Shell Chukchi Sea fleet demobilizing

Having decided to call a halt to its Arctic offshore drilling program, Shell is busy demobilizing the drilling fleet that it had assembled in the Chukchi Sea for this year’s Arctic open water season.

The drilling vessel Noble Discoverer is heading south for the Port of Everett for offload, having left Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands on Oct. 12, Shell spokeswoman Megan Baldino told Petroleum News in an Oct. 14 email. The semi-submersible drilling rig Transocean Polar Pioneer left Dutch Harbor on Oct. 14, heading for Port Angeles, Baldino said. The final destinations of the rigs have yet to be determined, she said.

The Arctic Challenger, the vessel carrying Shell’s containment dome, a part of the company’s spill response toolkit, also left Dutch Harbor on Oct. 12, en route for Bellingham. Some six vessels remain in the Chukchi Sea but will be heading south soon, Baldino said.

- ALAN BAILEY