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Drilling in Alaskan Arctic relatively easy said Shell VP before being fired

Screen Shot 2014-10-31 at 17.18.55By John Donovan

According to a recent article published by Bloomberg – Shell Seeks to Drill in Arctic in 2015, Defying Green Activists – Shell CFO Simon Henry, calling on all his vast experience as an accountant, voiced the opinion that it is not difficult to drill in the Arctic.

His assessment is surprisingly similar to that also expressed in optimistic terms in March 2012 by Shell EP senior Vice President David Lawrence, then in charge of Shell’s Arctic drilling plans.

The following is an extract from an article published on 9 March 2012.

Lawrence said. “When you look at offshore Alaska you are looking at 25 billion barrels of oil 120 trillion cubic feet of gas, so it’s a major resource that can compete in any arena we look at globally,” Lawrence said. “It’s the size of the prize.” ….Drilling in the Alaskan Arctic “is relatively easy” because it’s done in relatively shallow waters and under relative low pressure and Shell already knows a lot about the region’s geology, Lawrence said.

A year later we were the first to announce that David Lawrence had been fired after a series of near calamities forced Shell to abandon its drilling plans.

The then U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar publicly ridiculed Shell’s reckless and dangerous, tax avoiding Arctic fiasco.

His damning verdict: ‘Shell screwed up in 2012“.

Does Simon Henry think we all have poor memories, or is it just him?

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