(Reuters) – Oil companies appear in no hurry to return in 2014 to the ice-choked federal waters off Alaska where Royal Dutch Shell’s exploration efforts foundered last year, the new head of the U.S. Interior Department said on Tuesday. Shell, which has spent about $5 billion to date on its Arctic offshore program, including $2.1 billion paid for leases in the Chukchi Sea in 2008, in February announced a “pause†in those efforts after struggling with various equipment problems.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept 3 |
(Reuters) – Oil companies appear in no hurry to return in 2014 to the ice-choked federal waters off Alaska where Royal Dutch Shell’s exploration efforts foundered last year, the new head of the U.S. Interior Department said on Tuesday.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who took up the post in April, said that in meetings with the industry on her first official visit to Alaska she heard no sense of “urgency.”
“I have not heard from any companies an urgency to go forward until they’re ready and they are confident they can do it in a safe and responsible way,” she said in a news conference.
Shell, which has spent about $5 billion to date on its Arctic offshore program, including $2.1 billion paid for leases in the Chukchi Sea in 2008, in February announced a “pause” in those efforts after struggling with various equipment problems.
The grounding of its Kulluk drillship in a storm prompted a Department of Interior review and the launch of Arctic-specific standards for all drillers in federal waters of the Beaufort, the Chukchi and in areas of transit to and from drill sites.
The baseline Arctic standards should be ready by the end of the year, Jewell said. “That would give companies an opportunity to determine whether they want to do anything next summer.”
She added that she believes the industry remains keen on prospects in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, despite competition for investment from cheaper shale-oil projects in the Lower 48 states.
Shell has not yet settled on its Alaska plans for next year, company spokesman Curtis Smith said on Tuesday.
“Future exploration plans for offshore Alaska will depend on a number of factors, including the readiness of our rigs and our confidence that lessons learned from our 2012 drilling program have been fully incorporated,” Smith said in an email.
ConocoPhillips, the other company with a detailed exploration plan for U.S. Arctic waters, in April dropped its plan to drill in the Chukchi in 2014 and was reevaluating its program. It has not yet made any decisions about future offshore Arctic development, said spokeswoman Natalie Lowman.
Other companies with offshore Arctic leases include Statoil , Eni and Repsol, but they have not filed any formal exploration plans with federal regulators.
While there was no drilling this summer in the offshore Arctic, there has been some industry activity there, including marine surveys in the Chukchi by Shell.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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.
