Shell: Pennsylvania ethane plant completion expected in 2022

MONACA, Pa. (AP) — Shell Chemicals officials say the planned multi-billion-dollar petrochemical, or ethane cracker, plant in western Pennsylvania is expected to be completed next year.

The company said in a statement Tuesday that the company is now in the early stages of commissioning and start-up activities, the Beaver County Times reported.

Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden said in an earnings call last month that the complex, now more than 70 percent complete, would likely be “fully operational” sometime in 2022. read more

Shell files offshore drilling plans for Alaska’s North Slope

17 Sept 2020

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Shell Offshore Inc. has submitted plans to plans to drill for oil in the waters along the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the coming years.

The Dutch oil industry giant applied to form the West Harrison Bay Unit to explore in state waters off the North Slope region, The Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday.

Documents submitted to the state Division of Oil and Gas said Shell has attempted to find a partner to work on the West Harrison Bay leases for at least a year. read more

Forgotten no more: Shell Oil preserves slave cemeteries

Published: Thu, June 14, 2018 8:48 AM Updated: Thu, June 14, 2018 8:49 AM

CONVENT, La. (AP) — A major oil company is taking steps to honor once-forgotten slaves buried on its land west of New Orleans in an area where sugar plantations once abounded, an effort that some hope will grow into a larger movement to recognize and protect such cemeteries around the country.

The Shell Oil Company marked, blocked off and spruced up the tracts near its Convent refinery west of New Orleans and held dedication ceremonies in March, about five years after archaeologists confirmed the presence of slave burial grounds in 2013. The company also has been working with the nearby River Road African American Museum to arrange commemorative events and accommodate visitors.

It’s the latest example of the South’s decades-long path to acknowledging unsavory aspects of its history. read more

A federal judge presiding over lawsuits accusing big oil companies of lying about global warming is turning his courtroom into a classroom in what could be the first court hearing to study the science of climate change.

March 21, 2018, at 2:35 a.m.

FILE – In this Feb. 28, 2018 file photo, students rally for clean energy in front of San Francisco City Hall. A federal judge presiding over lawsuits accusing big oil companies of lying about global warming is turning his courtroom into a classroom. U.S. District Judge William Alsup has asked lawyers for two California cities and five of the world’s largest oil and gas companies to come to court on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 to present “the best science now available on global warming.” (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) The Associated Press read more

Selection of recent news coverage of Shell/Eni OPL 245 corruption scandal

OPL 245 corruption scandal coming to the boil again

Two big oil companies go on trial in Italy: New York Times

Eni and Shell trial over Nigeria kickbacks postponed: AFP/Daily Mail

Oil giants Shell, Eni on trial in big Nigerian bribery case: Associated Press/Seattle Times

The Disappearing $1.1 Billion Behind Shell, Eni Trial: QuickTake: Bloomberg read more

By: The Associated Press:  August 30, 2017  

Pollutants have been released from refineries operated by Exxon, Shell and other companies as torrential rains damaged storage tanks and other industrial facilities on the Texas Coast.

Shell told state regulators this week that a floating roof over a tank at its oil refinery in Deer Park, Texas, partially sank during the heavy rainfall. The company said 100 pounds of benzene and 100 pounds of toluene were released.

A similar event happened at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s refinery in Baytown, Texas. David Gray, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the company reported the release of 15 pounds of benzene. The EPA classifies benzene as a carcinogen. Toluene, a solvent, is less toxic.

A Shell spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This is an unprecedented storm, and we have taken every effort to minimize emissions and safely shut down equipment,” said Exxon spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker. She said the Irving, Texas-based company was monitoring emission levels and was committed to complying with environmental laws. read more

Royal Dutch Shell is shutting down most units at its refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands after a fire at a high-voltage electricity switch station.

Shell spokesman Thijs van Velzen says the fire started late Saturday and was extinguished by Sunday morning. Nobody was injured.

The Pernis refinery in Rotterdam’s sprawling port is Europe’s largest. It has the capacity to refine just over 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The shutdown led to Shell burning off excess gases at the plant, a process known as flaring. The move sent large flames into the sky on Sunday.Van Velzen says the cause of the fire is under investigation. He declined comment on the financial implications of the shutdown. read more

By DANICA KIRKA Published July 27, 2017: Associated Press

LONDON –  Royal Dutch Shell is planning for the day when demand for oil starts fading as major economies move away from oil and increasingly turn to electric-powered cars, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said Thursday.

Van Beurden welcomed recent proposals to phase out passenger vehicles powered by fossil fuels in Britain and France, saying they are needed to combat global warming. Shell is looking at “very aggressive scenarios” as it makes plans to remain competitive in a world that gets more of its energy from renewable sources and less from crude oil, or “liquids,” he said. read more

ISLAMABAD — The Latest on efforts to compensate the victims of an oil tanker fire in Pakistan last month that killed 215 people (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell says it will pay compensation to the victims of an oil tanker fire in Pakistan last month that killed 215 people, without specifying the exact amount.

After the fuel tanker crashed and started leaking on the side of a highway, hundreds of people from a nearby village rushed to the scene to collect the fuel. They were engulfed in flames when the spill ignited. read more

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday it will pay compensation to the victims of an oil tanker fire in Pakistan last month that killed 215 people, after Pakistan’s oil and gas regulator threatened legal action.

After the fuel tanker crashed and started leaking on the side of a highway, hundreds of people from a nearby village rushed to the scene to collect the fuel. They were engulfed in flames when the spill ignited.

Pakistan wants Shell to pay $2.4 million, or $9,500 to the heirs of each person killed. read more

Amnesty said that Esther Kiobel is bringing the civil case at a court in The Hague along with Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula. The women are seeking a public apology and compensation.

Their husbands were among nine activists from the Ogoni tribe, led by writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, who were hanged in 1995 for the murder of four political rivals. Supporters say they were really targeted because of their involvement in protests against environmental damage by Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary. read more

BY MICHELLE FAUL: Associated Press: JOHANNESBURG: MARCH 24, 2017 7:36 AM

Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary “fiercely opposed” environmental testing and is concealing data showing thousands of Nigerians are exposed to health hazards from a stalled cleanup of the worst oil spills in the West African nation’s history, according to a German geologist contracted by the Dutch-British multinational.

An environmental study found “astonishingly high” pollution levels with soil “literally soaked with hydrocarbons,” geologist Kay Holtzmann wrote in a letter to the Bodo Mediation Initiative. read more

By MICHELLE FAUL: The Associated Press: March 4, 2017

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nigeria wants Royal Dutch Shell to reopen one of its main pipelines but the oil multinational is resisting, analysts say, for fear it could once again be bombed by militants.

The Trans Forcados Pipeline, the main feed to the 400,000-barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal, has been shut for all but three weeks of the past year, Lagos-based SBM Intelligence said in its weekly risk analysis published Friday.

In their most sophisticated attack, militants used divers to blow up an underwater section of the pipeline in the Atlantic a year ago. Defying militant death threats, Shell flew in underwater engineers who took seven months to get the pipeline operational. read more

Nigeria Seizes $1.2 Billion Oil Bloc in Shell, Eni Scandal

By MICHELLE FAUL, ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOHANNESBURG — Jan 27, 2017, 7:31 AM ET

Nigeria is seizing back one of Africa’s richest oil blocs and will prosecute petroleum giants Shell and Eni in a $1.2 billion corruption scandal that has drawn investigators from the United States, Italy, France, Switzerland and Holland, according to a Nigerian Federal High Court document.

The court on Thursday ceded control of Oil Prospecting License 245 to the government while the West African country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigates and prosecutes suspects in the “Malabu Oil scam,” according to a statement from the commission. read more

Nigerian lawsuit revives billion-dollar oil scandal

By Associated Press: 21 December 2016

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency is reviving a five-year-old scandal involving one of Africa’s richest oil blocs, in which a former petroleum minister and his allies allegedly made $1.1 billion dollars and the state oil company $210 million.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission filed suit Tuesday in the federal high court charging former petroleum minister Dan Etete, former justice minister Mohammed Bello Adoke and businessman Aliyu Abubakar with fraud and money laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars in the sale of the bloc. The money came from a Nigerian escrow account at the London branch of JPMorgan Chase, according to the court document. read more

Published November 09, 2016 Associated Press

WARRI, Nigeria –  Nigerian militants say they have again blown up an oil pipeline carrying crude for export from Shell’s Forcados terminal in the country’s south. It’s the third attack in eight days on the Trans Forcados pipeline network.

The first came just hours after President Muhammadu Buhari held inconclusive talks with stakeholders aimed at halting the sabotage. Militants and community leaders want development and a bigger share of revenues from oil that has massively polluted the southern Niger Delta. read more

By ASSOCIATED PRESS: 1 November 2016 

LONDON (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell says third-quarter earnings rose 18 percent, boosted by increased production after the acquisition of BG Group.

The company said Tuesday that profit adjusted for one-time items and the fluctuating value of inventories rose to $2.79 billion from $2.38 billion in the same period last year.

Gains from increased production more than offset falling oil prices. Oil and gas production rose 25 percent to the equivalent of 3.6 million barrels of oil a day. That includes 806,000 barrels a day from BG assets. read more

Published September 26, 2016 Associated Press

WARRI, Nigeria –  Shell Nigeria is refusing to confirm a report by Niger Delta militants that they have bombed its Bonny oil pipeline in the south, crippling its exports.

Friday night’s bombing breaks a month-long ceasefire between militant groups and the government and comes days after repairs from an earlier attack had allowed exports to resume.

Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo says he cannot comment on the incident.

The Niger Delta Avengers say its attack is “only a wake-up call” responding to a clampdown by security forces that it says violated the ceasefire. The military has reported arresting at least two Avenger commanders last week. read more

September 20, 2016, 4:48 P.M. ET

By Dimitra DeFotis

Allegedly illegal Nigerian oil exports valued at $12.7 billion are at the heart of a lawsuit the country has filed against units of Chevron (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), Total (TOT) ENI (E) and Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR).

The case points to outsiders’ shipments to the United States between 2011 and 2014, but is likely to expose domestic corruption as well. Militants have crippled Nigeria’s oil production this year, a recurring theme over recent decades. Lagos hearings, which begin next week, come as the country struggles with the affects of policy stagnation, currency devaluation, inflation and low oil revenue. read more

By ASSOCIATED PRESS: PUBLISHED: 20:54, 12 September 2016 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s anti-corruption office is asking the country’s energy minister to sell his stock in Royal Dutch Shell, where he was an executive of the local branch.

Juan Jose Aranguren became energy minister in December. He has faced growing criticism for continuing to own a reported $1.1 million in Shell’s class A shares.

The head of Argentina’s anti-corruption office said Monday that Aranguren should get rid of his stock or set up a blind trust to handle his finances. read more

Shell to Lay Off 200 Gulf of Mexico Rig Workers

A Shell platform in the Gulf of Mexico (courtesy RDS)

By MarEx 2016-07-25 

Shell has announced plans to trim about 200 jobs from its Gulf of Mexico deepwater operations.

“We are making these changes in order to remain competitive and better position Shell’s Gulf of Mexico projects for future growth,” spokeswoman Kimberly Windon told the AP.

The cuts will affect personnel on nine facilities, and will reduce the oil major’s workforce in the region by about one quarter. Some will be transferred to other operations where openings are available. read more

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden bows to President Putin of Russia.

NATALIYA VASILYEVA, ASSOCIATED PRESS: June 15, 2016 Updated: June 16, 2016 1:29pm

Following a meeting with Putin, Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden and state-owned gas giant Gazprom announced plans to build an LNG plant in Russia together. France’s Total is working with Russia’s largely private gas producer on a liquefied natural gas project.

The fact that the CEOs of top American companies have in a sense defied their government shows that they put their business interests before any political considerations, analysts say. read more

By: Associated Press | Published: June 9, 2016 9:40 AM

Argentina’s government is defending its energy minister who is facing growing criticism for continuing to own shares in Royal Dutch Shell, where he was an executive of the local branch.

Juan Jose Aranguren became energy minister in December. He reported about $1.1 million in Shell’s class A shares in a wealth statement that was released this week.

Cabinet chief Marcos Pena said Wednesday that ”the law is very clear” and there is no conflict of interest. read more

By Associated Press: June 8 at 7:20 PM

HOUSTON — Shell Oil Co. has decided not to extend its title sponsorship of the Houston Open after next year, ending the third-longest running title sponsorship on the PGA Tour.

Steve Timms, president and chief executive of the Houston Golf Association, said Shell’s decision to leave after 2017 was a function of its business environment and that the company wants to stay involved in some capacity.

“We’re proud as heck of what will be 26 years of a long-running sponsorship,” Timms said Wednesday. “This will present some opportunities for us. We’re confident in our property. We’re in a big market and we feel good about it.” read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: LONDON — May 25, 2016, 6:08 AM ET

Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell says it will trim at least 2,200 jobs globally amid challenging times in the oil industry.

The losses are in addition to cuts already being implemented because of the energy company’s merger with BG. The losses will include some 475 positions in the North Sea.

Oil companies around the world are slashing jobs and postponing investments to adjust to lower energy prices. Prices have fallen because production remains high even as slower economic growth, particularly in China, reduces consumption. read more

Protesters walk north along West March Point Road Saturday past the Tesoro Refinery rail yard near Anacortes. About 1,000 people walked the six-mile round trip to the tip of March Point, home to two refineries. (Scott Terrell)

By PHUONG LE: The Associated Press: May 14, 2016

Hundreds of climate activists on Saturday marched to the site of two refineries in northwest Washington state to call for a break from fossil fuels, while a smaller group continued to block railroad tracks leading to the facilities for a second day. read more

By Rob Nikolewski: April 15, 2016

An administrative law judge in Washington D.C. slammed two energy companies, saying they overcharged California consumers for long-term contracts during the state’s energy crisis of 2000-2001, with a tab exceeding $1.1 billion, including interest.

“The public was clearly, palpably, seriously harmed by the energy crisis,” said Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Judge Steven A. Glazer in a 219-page ruling released late Wednesday that charged Shell Energy North America and Iberdrola Renewables of gouging the state. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: MARCH 20, 2016

BAGHDAD — Iraq on Sunday exported the first shipment of natural gas in its history, a key development for the OPEC member struggling to feed a cash-strapped economy amid an expensive fight against the Islamic State group.

The move revives a long-sought ambition by Iraq to be a gas exporter, thanks to a joint venture with Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. Iraq first planned to begin exporting gas in the late 1970s, but that timeline was delayed by the Iraq-Iran war when Iraqi export ports were bombed. read more

London law firm Leigh Day & Co. is representing them after winning an unprecedented $83.5 million in damages from Shell in a landmark ruling by the same court last year. Shell originally offered villagers $50,000.

In a statement Wednesday before the trial opened, Shell blamed sabotage and oil theft for the ongoing pollution and noted it had halted oil production in 1993 in Ogoniland, the area where the two communities are located in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern Niger Delta.

Shell said it will challenge the jurisdiction of the British court. read more

By – Associated Press – Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Shell officials and Gov. John Bel Edwards say it will create 1,500 construction jobs and add 20 permanent jobs when it opens in 2018. Salaries for the permanent jobs average $104,000 a year.

About 650 people already work at the plant.

Officials say the expansion will make the 800-acre complex the world’s largest producer of a group of chemicals used to make various consumer and industrial products, including packaging plastics, synthetic lubricants, drilling fluids and household detergents.

Officials say the expansion will bring total production capacity to 425,000 tons of alpha olefins (OH-luh-finz) a year. read more

By MIKE CORDER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dec 18, 2015

Nigerian farmers will have the chance to sue oil multinational Shell in a Dutch court for pollution they blame on leaking pipelines, a Dutch appeals court ruled Friday.

Activists said the ruling sets a landmark legal precedent that clears the way for Dutch-based companies to be sued for alleged negligence of their subsidiaries elsewhere in the world.

“There is now jurisprudence that means victims of human rights violations or pollution can sue Dutch multinationals in the Netherlands,” said Geert Ritsema of the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth, the environmental group that is also involved in the case.

The case centers on a charge from four farmers that Shell and its Nigerian unit are liable for damages caused by leaks from two underground oil pipes from 2004-2007. Shell has argued that it has no liability in the case and that Dutch courts did not have jurisdiction. read more

Inspectors found that Shell had skipped critical decontamination steps while shutting down the main flare. The uncontrolled release exposed workers to toxic substances.

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS: NOVEMBER 20, 2015

TUMWATER, Wash. (AP) — Washington state regulators have fined Shell Oil Products $77,000 after an investigation found that it failed to control a toxic release.

The Department of Labor and Industries said Friday that they began investigating Shell’s Puget Sound Refinery in Anacortes after learning that the refinery’s main flare released contaminates into the environment.

The release prompted complaints about the odor by people living nearby.

A refinery flare is designed to burn off waste gases and vapors not used in production. It also helps to prevent fires. But the flare must be decontaminated and shut down periodically for maintenance. read more

WARRI, NIGERIA – Twenty years after a Nigerian military dictatorship hanged activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, his Niger Delta homeland remains blighted by oil pollution.

Thousands of lives have been wrecked, according to Amnesty International, as oil slicks killed the fish, crude-crusted soil stunted crops and oil flare-ups polluted lungs.

Gen. Sani Abacha’s regime hanged Saro-Wiwa, 54, and seven other Ogoni leaders on trumped-up murder charges. “Judicial murder,” charged then-British Prime Minister John Major. read more

Associated Press: Nov. 3, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden says the company will reflect on its decision to consider drilling off the coast of Alaska but voiced his regret that the prospect couldn’t be made to work out.

Van Beurden told reporters Tuesday as Shell updated its strategy that it would examine the decision to pursue offshore drilling in Arctic waters. Shell reported a third-quarter loss of $7.4 billion last week as it re-organized and cancelled projects, including drilling in Alaska amid sharp drops in the price of oil. read more

DAN JOLING: Associated Press: Oct. 13, 2015

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two drill vessels employed by Royal Dutch Shell PLC off Alaska’s northwest coast have safely departed Arctic waters for the Pacific Northwest.

The 572-foot Noble Discoverer, owned by Noble Drilling U.S. LLC, reached Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands on Sunday afternoon. After a Coast Guard inspection, the vessel departed Monday for the Port of Everett in Washington state, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said.

The Polar Pioneer, owned by Transocean Ltd., reached Dutch Harbor on Monday afternoon. Two tug boats accompanying the semi-submersible drilling vessel, the Ocean Wind and Ocean Wave vessel, planned to refuel and change crews. The Polar Pioneer will be towed to Port Angeles, Washington. read more

Published October 11, 2015: Associated Press

WARRI, Nigeria –  Shell Nigeria says armed militants attacked an oil flow station in the southern Delta and killed a guard, amid fears of a renewed crisis as the country grapples with halved petroleum prices.

Militant demands have been increasing and range from regional autonomy to a bigger share of the oil wealth that has polluted the Niger Delta region and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers and fishermen.

President Muhammad Buhari has said he will terminate in December a $500 million-a-year amnesty program negotiated in 2009 for 30,000 militants that curbed an insurgency that was killing 1,000 people a year and halved the oil production of Africa’s biggest producer. read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell has abandoned its long quest to become the first company to produce oil in Alaska’s Arctic waters, darkening the nation’s long-term oil prospects and delighting environmental groups that tried to block the project.

After years of effort, Shell is leaving the region “for the foreseeable future” because it failed to find enough oil to make further drilling worthwhile.

The company has spent more than $7 billion on the effort, slogged through a regulatory gauntlet and fought environmental groups that feared a spill in the harsh climate would be difficult to clean up and devastating to polar bears, walruses, seals and other wildlife. read more

FoxNews.com: Sept 28, 2015

Royal Dutch Shell said early Monday that it was ceasing offshore oil and gas exploration in Arctic waters after a test well yielded unsatisfactory amounts of oil and gas.

The announcement was a huge blow to Shell, which was counting on offshore drilling in Alaska to help it drive future revenue and had poured billions in investment and years of work into the exploratory well. Environmentalists, however, had tried repeatedly to block the project, and welcome the news.

A statement from the company’s headquarters in The Hague said Shell was ending exploration off Alaska “for the forseeable future” after what it called “a clearly disappointing exploration outcome.”

Shell said it had found indications of oil and gas in the well in the Chukchi Sea, about 80 miles off Alaska’s northwest coast. However, the petroleum was not in quantities sufficient to warrant additional exploration in that portion of the basin, the company added. read more

Associated Press: Monday 28 September 2015 07.04 BST

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has said it is ceasing exploration in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future, saying an exploratory well drilled to 6,800ft (2,100m) found oil and gas but not in sufficient quantities.

Shell USA’s president, Marvin Odum, said in an announcement early on Monday in the Netherlands that it was a disappointing outcome for that part of the Chukchi sea basin.

Shell drilled in 150ft (45m) of water about 80 miles (130km) off Alaska’s north-west coast. The exploratory well was the first in the Chukchi in 24 years. read more

By DAN JOLING: 18 Sept 2015

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Critics of Arctic offshore petroleum drilling have used climbing gear, kayaks and polar bear costumes to protest industrial activity in the Arctic. They’re now trying humor.

Actors Alexander Skarsgard of “True Blood” and Jack McBrayer of “30 Rock,” along with Andy Bichlbaum of “The Yes Men” activists, are on a Greenpeace ship in the Greenland Sea with a team from the Funny or Die production company to make a comedy series focused on industrial threats to the Arctic. read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sep 2, 2015, 12:31 AM ET

By DAN JOLING Associated Press

The president of Shell Oil Co. said Tuesday exploratory drilling off Alaska’s northwest coast is going well despite stormy weather last week that caused the company to halt operations for a few days.

And in an interview with The Associated Press Marvin Odum said he expects further protests against the company’s plans for Arctic drilling like the ones in Seattle and Portland where activists in kayaks tried to block Shell vessels. read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Aug 31, 2015, 10:31 PM ET

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has resumed operations after high winds and rough seas north of Alaska’s northern coast put a temporary stop to exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

But Shell spokesman Curtis Smith says in a Monday email to The Associated Press that full operations, including drilling, will start again once a systems check is complete and the company is satisfied it’s safe to start drilling again.

He says there’s no timeline for that to be completed. read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Aug 28, 2015

By DAN JOLING Associated Press

Strong winds and high waves that pounded the northern coast of Alaska have led Royal Dutch Shell PLC to temporarily stop exploratory oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

“Due to high wind and sea states, we have paused all critical operations in the Chukchi Sea,” said spokesman Curtis Smith in an email response to questions.

The eastern Chukchi Sea this week experienced gale-force winds in the range of 39 to 54 p.m., said Ed Townsend, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. Winds at Point Lay on Alaska’s northwest coast about 9 a.m. Friday blew steadily at 29 mph with gusts to 37 mph. read more

Aug. 17, 2015

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The federal government has given Royal Dutch Shell the final permit it needs to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s northwest coast for the first time in more than two decades.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said Monday that exploratory drilling can go ahead after the oil giant brought in a required piece of equipment to stop a possible well blowout in the Chukchi (chuk-CHEE’) Sea.

The agency in July gave Shell permission to drill only the top sections of two wells because key safety equipment hadn’t arrived. read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Aug 10, 2015: By DAN JOLING Associated Press

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has applied to amend its federal permit to allow drilling into oil-bearing rock in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s northwest coast.

Shell last month received permission to begin some drilling in the Chukchi (chuk-CHEE’) Sea but was banned from digging into petroleum zones roughly 8,000 feet below the ocean floor.

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement limited the permit then because equipment was not on hand to handle a possible well blowout.

The equipment is on the Fennica, an icebreaker that suffered hull damage July 3 in the Aleutians Islands. The repaired Fennica left Portland, Oregon, on July 30. read more

Oil giant Shell has resumed offshore drilling off the coast of Alaska following a two-day delay by Greenpeace activists. The move marks the first time Shell has conducted exploratory drilling in the Arctic since 2012.

Date 01.08.2015

Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced on Friday that drilling operations had resumed in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska on Thursday afternoon.

The resumption marks the first time Shell has conducted exploratory drilling in the Arctic since 2012, due to inclement weather and issues with equipment.

“In the days to come, the team aboard the Transocean Polar Pioneer will work to complete the top portion of the well in anticipation of drilling to total depth once the Fennica [icebreaker] arrives on site,” Shell said in a statement to AFP news agency. read more

CBS/AP July 31, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. — Authorities used boats, personal watercraft, poles and their bare hands to remove protesters in kayaks and hanging from bridges who had tried to block a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker bound for an Arctic drilling operation.

The Fennica left dry dock Thursday afternoon and made its way down the Willamette River toward the Pacific Ocean soon after authorities forced the demonstrators from the river and the St. Johns Bridge.

Several protesters in kayaks moved toward the center of the river as the ship began its trip, but authorities in boats and personal watercraft cleared a narrow pathway for the Fennica. read more

By STEVEN DuBOIS and DAN JOLING

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Alaska on Thursday ordered Greenpeace USA to pay a fine of $2,500 for every hour that protesters dangle from a bridge in Oregon and block a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker from leaving for oil drilling in the Arctic.

There was no sign that the protesters were going to abandon the blockade in Portland after the ruling in Anchorage by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason that Greenpeace is in civil contempt.

Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard said the activists will stay in place for now. read more

by Jes Burns and Cassandra Profita OPB | July 29, 2015 2:34 p.m. | Updated: July 30, 2015 8:58 a.m. | Portland, Oregon

A Shell icebreaking vessel being protested by activist groups has turned around and is headed back toward the dry dock after a morning showdown with protesters. The St. Johns Bridge was reopened after being temporarily closed.

The U.S. Coast Guard was escorting the icebreaker on the Willamette River and warned the activists that they are breaking the law.

Georgia Faye Hirsty was one of the 13 hanging protestors. Speaking from her mobile phone while hanging from the bridge on Wednesday, she said she was glad to know the Arctic-bound icebreaker would remain in Portland for another day. But she said she and her fellow demonstrators weren’t about to declare victory and go home. read more