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Shell drillships are in Chukchi
Shell’s drilling vessels, the Noble Discoverer and the Transocean Polar Pioneer, have reached the area of the Chukchi Sea where Shell plans to conduct exploratory drilling, company spokeswoman Megan Baldino told Petroleum News July 28.
Shell has previously said that it plans to start its drilling campaign with the Burger J well in the Burger prospect. The prospect, about 70 miles northwest of the Chukchi Sea coastal village of Wainwright, is known to contain a major pool of natural gas: Shell hopes to find oil under the gas. According to Shell’s plan of exploration, the J well is in the southwest quadrant of the prospect.
Permits in place
Shell has all of the permits that it needs to start drilling. However, the company’s drilling permits, issued by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, do not allow drilling into potential hydrocarbon zones because Shell’s Arctic capping stack has not yet been staged in the Chukchi Sea. The capping stack, which could be used to seal a leaking well head in the event of a loss-of-well-control incident, is being carried by the icebreaker M/V Fennica - the Fennica is currently in Portland, Oregon, under repair, having suffered a gash it its hull after departing the port of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands in early July.
Shell has said that it will be possible to repair the Fennica and transition the vessel to the Chukchi before any drilling operations reach the depths where hydrocarbons may be encountered.
Uncharted obstacle It appears that the damage to the Fennica resulted from the vessel scraping an uncharted undersea obstacle while under the guidance of a certified marine pilot. On July 28 the U.S. Coast Guard issued a notice saying that it had submitted its initial findings on the incident to the Coast Guard headquarters for review. The Coast Guard said that it had found that the navigational charts on the Fennica were all up to date and that drug testing of the vessel’s master, mate and pilot had all proved negative.
Following the Fennica incident, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration arranged a marine survey of the area where the incident appeared to have taken place. That survey discovered rocky areas at depths of less than 30 feet, including an uncharted shoal as shallow as 22.5 feet.
The Coast Guard notice said that the Fennica’s draft at the time of the incident was 26.25 feet and that the agency had broadcast a notice to mariners, notifying them of the location of the previously uncharted shoal.
Greenpeace protest Meantime, protests by environmentalists against Shell’s Arctic offshore drilling program continue unabated. Protestors argue that oil exploration and development in the Arctic offshore presents too high a risk to the fragile Arctic environment and that techniques for responding to an Arctic offshore oil spill are unproven. On July 29 environmental activist organization Greenpeace issued a press release saying that protestors had rappelled off a bridge over the Willamette River in an attempt to block the Fennica from leaving Portland.
Shell has requested the federal District Court in Alaska to issue an order requiring Greenpeace to comply with a preliminary injunction that the court had previously issued, banning Greenpeace from interfering with vessels in Shell’s fleet. Shell has asked the court to fine Greenpeace $2,500 per hour until the protestors vacate the Portland bridge. Shell pays a daily rate of $59,288 for the use of the Fennica, the company told the court.
On March 27 the National Petroleum Council, an advisory body to the Secretary of Energy, issued a report recommending to the Obama administration that exploration in the Alaska Arctic offshore should proceed without delay to stave off a likely future decline in U.S. oil production. Proven technologies exist that can enable this exploration to move ahead, the report said.
- ALAN BAILEY
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