20 March 2013
DRILLING for oil in the Arctic could get a lot tougher. The US is considering strict rules to protect the fragile polar environment, after a report found Shell tried to drill there while underprepared.
Shell attempted to drill exploratory wells in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas last year, but ran into problems: drilling rigs ran aground and vessels did not meet environmental standards. The company is now holding off until 2014, when ConocoPhillips also plans to drill in the Chukchi Sea.
On 14 March the US Department of the Interior, which regulates drilling, released the results of a fast-tracked investigation into Shell’s difficulties. The report says Shell was “not fully prepared” due to management “shortcomings”.
To resume drilling, Shell will need approval from the federal government and, for the first time, independent reviewers. Shell must now submit a far more comprehensive plan detailing how its ships will get to the drill site, drilling procedures and the planned response to an oil spill.
The report also recommends specific drilling regulations for the Arctic. These could include ice-class vessels and the type of relief well needed to alleviate a blowout.
That is sensible, says Marilyn Heiman of the Pew Environment Group in Washington DC. Storms, ice and remoteness make Arctic drilling risky. “Shell is one of the best,” she says. “Even they were unable to deal with the challenge.”
This article appeared in print under the headline “Arctic mistakes”
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
