Shell CEO confirms commitment to Alaska

During an interview with the Financial Times Shell CEO Peter Voser said that his company remains committed to its Alaska outer continental shelf oil exploration program, the London based newspaper reported on Oct. 6.

“The Arctic theme is one we’re looking at from a strategic point of view at Shell,” Voser said.

Voser said that Shell had “gone the extra mile” in its approach to oil spill prevention in its Arctic exploration and that in 2012 the company had run into problems with “the fourth barrier” of its spill prevention measures, a reference presumably to difficulties with the company’s Arctic oil containment system.

“That was a big disappointment to me personally as well, because we didn’t deliver on that,” Voser said, according to the Financial Times report.

Voser also expressed his concern about the accident in which Shell’s floating drilling platform, the Kulluk, ran aground in the Gulf of Alaska. However, he characterized this incident as a maritime accident, rather than an accident directly involving oil drilling.

Voser said that Shell does not yet know if it will return to the Alaska Arctic outer continental shelf in 2014 or 2015 to seek oil in its leases.

“But over the months to come we will get more clarity on how we are prepared and how we can drive this forward,” he said. “I still see this as a great long-term prospect but we need to prove it’s there, and that’s why we’re spending the money.”

Voser said that he thinks that Arctic offshore oil will be developed but that the possibility that development may ultimately prove uneconomic is a normal form of exploration risk. Development will require companies with the appropriate technology and financial means, working collaboratively with governments and regulators, he said.

—Alan Bailey