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Arctic

Records detail equipment failure on Arctic drilling rig

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Screen Shot 2015-08-13 at 11.35.25“The company’s repeated failures in basic readiness tests show that when things go wrong in the Arctic ocean, it will be a disaster…”

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: August 30, 2015

WASHINGTON — Newly released documents reveal the extent of problems with anti-pollution equipment on a Shell-contracted Arctic drillship earlier this year.

The records, provided by the U.S. Coast Guard in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, also describe a botched fire drill by the crew of another Shell-contracted drilling rig months before it began boring an exploratory oil well in the Chukchi Sea.

That rig, the Transocean Polar Pioneer, was moored in Seattle and being prepared for its Arctic mission in May, when the Coast Guard conducted an initial inspection and two emergency drills onboard. read more

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Shell Tramples Our Civil Rights

Yesterday, in a small courtroom in Alaska, David met Goliath once again. Greenpeace USA’s small team of lawyers came face to face with representatives from Shell, the multinational oil company seeking one of the broadest legal injunctions ever sought against an entirely peaceful environmental group. The judge’s decision will resonate far beyond Anchorage and help determine the future of activism in this country.

A little backstory is needed here. In a desperate attempt to shore up its proven reserves, Shell is betting the ranch on new drilling in Arctic waters. Its executives purr reassuringly about ‘energy independence,’ as if one more hit of the black stuff will be enough to lower gas prices, ease our financial pain and bring back the dreamy nineties. Rather than seeing melting sea ice for what it really is — a flashing warning sign of continental proportions — this increasingly desperate company wants to drill for more of the fossil fuel that is causing the problem in the first place. read more

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Shell oil protesters climb National Gallery

Graphic from Greenpeace website

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Environmental campaigners climbed to the roof of the National Gallery today to stage a protest against energy giant Shell.

They scaled the gallery in London’s Trafalgar Square, where an evening reception is being held for Shell, saying they wanted to demonstrate against plans to drill for oil in the Arctic this summer.

The campaigners, from Greenpeace, dropped a 40-metre square banner, which has a picture of an oil rig and the words It’s No Oil Painting, down the front of the gallery. read more

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Shell Wins Approval for Oil-Spill Response Plan in Arctic

By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Feb 17, 2012 5:29 PM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) won U.S. approval for its oil-spill response plan in the Chukchi Sea, bringing the company closer to winding up a five-year quest to drill off the north coast of Alaska.

Shell must obtain drilling permits from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to start work as early as July. The company also needs U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service permission for “incidental” disruption of polar bears, walrus, whales and seals. read more

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Shell leader expects Arctic offshore drilling this year

By Emily Pickrell, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Published Thursday, January 12, 2012

Shell Oil Co. expects to clear remaining regulatory hurdles and begin drilling later this year in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska, company President Marvin Odum said at a scientific conference on Thursday.

Shell received conditional federal approval last month to drill six exploratory wells in the Arctic offshore region but still must secure permits for individual wells.

Among the requirements for Shell to obtain those permits will be selling regulators on its plan for responding to spills or other accidents at the sites. read more

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Oil exploration under Arctic ice could cause ‘uncontrollable’ natural disaster

Any serious oil spill in the ice of the Arctic, the “new frontier” for oil exploration, is likely to be an uncontrollable environmental disaster despoiling vast areas of the world’s most untouched ecosystem, one of the world’s leading polar scientists has told The Independent.

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor: Tuesday, 6 September 2011


Any serious oil spill in the ice of the Arctic, the “new frontier” for oil exploration, is likely to be an uncontrollable environmental disaster despoiling vast areas of the world’s most untouched ecosystem, one of the world’s leading polar scientists has told The Independent.

Oil from an undersea leak will not only be very hard to deal with in Arctic conditions, it will interact with the surface sea ice and become absorbed in it, and will be transported by it for as much as 1,000 miles across the ocean, according to Peter Wadhams, Professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge. read more

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Arctic oil spill could prove tough to clean

latimes.com Shell Exploration’s plan for exploratory oil and gas drilling in the Beaufort Sea won conditional approval from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. One of the big questions now is what happens if there’s an oil spill.Agency officials are expected as early as next week to act on Shell’s oil spill response plan, which conservationists say falls short of the mark for responding to an accident in icy waters, often shrouded in darkness, hundreds of miles from the nearest deep-water port.

Earlier this month, Canada looked at the same issue: How hard would it be to clean up an oil spill in the Beaufort Sea, which straddles the border between the two countries. The answer? Really hard.

Even in the “summer” season between July and October, when Arctic drilling normally occurs, true open water without ice occurs only 54% to 88% of the time, even close to shore, according to the report, prepared for the National Energy Board by S.L. Ross Environmental Research Ltd. of Ottawa. read more

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House Votes to Streamline Clean-Air Permits for Oil-Drilling Projects

JUNE 22, 2011

By TENNILLE TRACY

WASHINGTON—The House voted Wednesday to streamline the issuance of clean-air permits for offshore oil-drilling projects, representing another attempt by Republicans to pressure the Obama administration into speeding up domestic oil production.

The bill passed Wednesday night by a vote of 253-166, with votes falling largely along party lines. A majority of Democrats voted against the measure, saying it would strip regulators of their ability to determine whether drilling projects pollute the air and pose a risk to human health. read more

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Shell close to working in arctic waters

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 17 (UPI) — Shell sees a “clear path” to getting approval to drill in arctic waters off the coast of Alaska as early as July, an executive said.

Warming trends have resulted in less sea ice in arctic waters and exposed areas believed to hold vast reserves of oil and natural gas.

Shell Alaska President Pete Slaiby told the Platts news service that the company was close to getting approved to work on the outer continental shelf in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. read more

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Port Arthur activist wins $150,000 environmental prize

POSTING BY GOLDEN TRIANGLE WATCHMAN

John D, you want to engage with a true activist that has been a pain in the rear for Motiva, read this article. Motiva and the Purves gang are busy building the project. They had to buy this guy off to get the permit…. Might be worth connecting with him and seeing if he truly understands Shell’s equity position on crude when the project completes. They won’t be running the Saudi crude as much since it is going to China… where do you think they are going to get the crude…. Answer another question… Where is Shell’s investment of late north of the border in Canada…. oil sands…. on it’s way to PAR… read more

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Is Begich of Alaska trying to strong-arm the EPA on behalf of Shell?

John, he sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and they have already received your email with that Navy/ONR memo.

http://begich.senate.gov/public/

I read the article about Begich of Alaska trying to strong-arm the EPA on behalf of RD Shell.  I have attached a link to his webpage.

This is just a suggestion, but you may want to drop him a line and let him know about the email received from the DoI’s Inspector General office regarding the ongoing DoI investigation of RD Shell as it pertains to the Navy’s espionage investigation of RD Shell. You could include a link to that Navy/ONR memo listing the classification authorities. Just a suggestion, but there is no harm in stirring the pot. read more

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What’s the rush for Shell to drill in the Arctic? The oil is not going away.

FROM A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF SHELL OIL USA: REPUBLISHED WITH UPDATED INFORMATION SUNDAY 9 JANUARY 2011

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Is Shell’s skimmer vessel the ‘Nanuq’ ready to deal with Arctic spill?

The Nanuq, a 301-foot, Arctic A-1 ice class, oil recovery platform supply vessel, built by Edison Chouest of Houma Louisiana, owned by Shell

By a former employee of Shell Oil USA

I read the article about Shell’s skimmer vessel the ‘Nanuq’.

Shell apparently thinks it is ready to deal with a spill. Somebody needs to prove that.

Got an observation and a question –

The observation is that some of the structures that Shell wants to drill have already been drilled and have been shown to be oil and/or gas bearing. Undoubtedly some sort of tests were run and liquids were recovered.

Got a question? What were/are the pour points for the oils in those reservoirs at atmospheric conditions? I have seen oils so full of paraffin they solidify at 140 degrees F. This kind of stuff makes great candles. read more

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Royal Dutch Shell Arctic Issues

Article by a former employee of Shell Oil USA

UPDATED WITH COMMENTS AND MORE INFORMATION

December 4, 2010

I would like to point out that Shell Oil USA (and other operators) safely drilled a number of exploratory wells in the Arctic waters of offshore Alaska in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s without mishap. These wells were drilled in areas Shell now wants to drill. In some cases, these new wells will be delineation wells for discoveries already made by Shell and others.
 
However, RD Shell’s contentions that they are drilling in shallow water, not mile deep water, and that drilling is therefore much safer, ring hollow given Shell’s past and ongoing record in the shallow Gulf of Mexico, and even onshore. If water depth was the critical criteria Shell’s shallow water and onshore drilling operations worldwide should be ‘defect free’. They are far from that. Safety issues continue even onshore. And we only need to recall the Bay Marchand blowout in 1970 in very shallow Gulf of Mexico waters to understand that water depth is no guarantee of either safe drilling or production. That blowout was due in large part to an effort by Shell USA to develop that field as cheaply and quickly as possible.
 
However, given all the scrutiny that has fallen upon the oil industry for its slipshod ‘safety culture’ (if any real ‘safety culture’ actually exists) since the BP disaster, Shell and their partners could most probably be trusted to safely drill their desired exploration wells in both the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
 
Actually, the US government is legally obligated to let Shell and its partners drill at some point in time. If just cause is found that would prohibit that exploratory drilling, then Shell, et al, should be refunded their lease payments, with interest. The government must act in good faith in this regard.
 
Clearly, any mishap/screw-up by RD Shell or others that caused any sort of ‘significant’ release of hydrocarbons into the fragile Arctic environment would doom any further drilling in those regions for decades to come. RD Shell along with the rest of the industry are well aware of that reality. In fact, drilling in the Alaskan Arctic must be a ‘mishap free’ affair, for there will now be no tolerance for ‘typical’ industry conduct after the BP Affair.
 
Exploratory drilling is a very short term endeavor. The bigger concern, and one that has yet to be adequately addressed, is how to exploit any significant reserves that may be discovered without serious risk and damage to the very fragile Arctic environment. That is by far the more serious and more problematic issue the government, RD Shell and the oil industry face. RD Shell and the oil industry have yet to demonstrate they can meet the technical challenges and operate safely.
 
One need only look at how BP and their partners (Exxon, et al) have operated on the North Slope and have maintained the Alaska pipeline over the years to see where the industry has placed and continues to place its priorities. And we only need to look to the Russian Arctic to see what the consequences of serious releases of hydrocarbons will be. That is not a matter of speculation. And Shell USA’s past operational record in Alaska, RD Shell’s environmental record in the Arctic in Russia are indicative of the company’s attitude toward environmentally safe operations in the Arctic. Shell USA had diesel fuel spill issues associated with the improper abandonment of discovery wells (induced by improper internal ‘reserve bookings’ issues) at a prospect called Seal Island (now renamed Northstar by BP I believe). And recently the Russian government took harsh action against Shell as a consequence of environmental issues at Sakhalin II. How RD Shell operates and has operated in the Alaskan and Russian Arctic are very relevant because this conduct is indicative of Shell’s corporate attitude regarding environmental issues. And this is senior level management’s attitude. After all, they lead that company.
 
While Shell and others may indeed be allowed to drill exploratory wells, there is absolutely no guarantee that they will be allowed to develop any reserves that may be discovered. Any such effort will ultimately end up in US courts and face legal challenge after legal challenge. I question whether they would ever be allowed to exploit those discoveries at anytime in the near future. It could take decades, literally, for the resulting political and legal challenges to be overcome.
 
Given the continuing development of massive gas reserves in the lower 48 States, and the rather limited potential for oil in the Alaskan Arctic offshore, estimated to be around 20 billon bbls, I don’t see any real imperative to develop those known gas and oil reserves given the potential ecological damage that could occur from slipshod industry operating practices. These oil reserves are spit in the bucket compared to the exploitable onshore oil sand reserves in Alberta and Venezuela. And there are serious environmental damage issues associated with the development of those reserves as well.
 
To further exacerbate the problem of drilling in the Alaskan Arctic is the fact that the US government has no agency capable of regulating the oil industry effectively. The Dept. of the Interior has been and is completely compromised by the coziness between the oil industry, politicians, and senior bureaucratic leadership. A great example of this completely improper relationship is the Gale Norton affair, and the other associated ‘sex and drug’ scandals that rocked MMS in recent years. DoI operates more like the corrupt bureaucracy of a third world country than they do of a modern democracy based upon the rule of law. And Shell has had a big hand in the deliberate corruption of that bureaucracy.
 
The modern US Republican party was born in large part in Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, Texas, the one-time capital of the world wide oil industry and still the capital of the US and North American/South American oil industries. The coziness between the oil industry and the modern Republican party is legendary. However, large sums of oil industry money flow to both political parties and to lobby organizations who effectively gut the regulatory power of governmental agencies and prevent the establishment of an effective regulatory agency.
 
Until the impotence of the US government to effectively regulate the oil industry is remedied, I see no possibility of development of hydrocarbon reserves in the Alaskan offshore, regardless of how much oil and gas may be discovered. The arrogance and corrupting influence peddling of the large major oil companies, which ultimately led to/contributed to BP’s latest offshore disaster have doomed that possibility.
read more

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Alaska polar bears given ‘critical habitat’

25 November 2010

The US has designated a “critical habitat” for polar bears living on Alaska’s disappearing sea ice.

The area – twice the size of the United Kingdom – has been set aside to help stave off the danger of extinction, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said.

The territory includes locations where oil and gas companies want to drill.

Environmentalists hope the designation will make it more difficult for companies to get permits to operate in the region.

“This critical habitat designation enables us to work with federal partners to ensure their actions within its boundaries do not harm polar bear populations,” said Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks. read more

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U.S. Deems Polar-Bear Habitat Critical, Posing Issue for Shell

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

By SIOBHAN HUGHES

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday designated 187,000 square miles of offshore sea ice and other areas as critical habitat for polar bears, a move that could make it harder for Royal Dutch Shell PLC to begin drilling in Alaskan waters next summer.

The Interior Department issued the final rules as Shell has been lobbying the Obama administration to by the end of the year approve its plans to drill in Alaska waters, especially the Chukchi Sea. The Chukchi and the Beaufort seas are home to the nation’s two big polar-bear populations, the Interior Department said, and thus provide critical habitat for species that the U.S. government has listed as threatened. read more

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Arctic oil spill clean-up plans are ‘thoroughly inadequate’, industry warned

guardian.co.uk home

Report from US environment group warns that ice, freezing temperatures and high seas would overwhelm any clean-up attempts

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent

Thursday 11 November 2010 10.31 GMT

The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Photograph: Doug Wilson/Corbis

The next big offshore oil disaster could take place in the remote Arctic seas where hurricane-force winds, 30ft seas, sub-zero temperatures and winter darkness would overwhelm any clean-up attempts, a new report warns.

With the ban on offshore drilling lifted in the Gulf of Mexico, big oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell are pressing hard for the Obama administration to grant final approval to Arctic drilling. Shell has invested more than $2bn to drill off Alaska’s north coast, and is campaigning to begin next summer. read more

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Arctic Oil Spill Report

“There is a lot of pressure by Shell to drill this summer,” Marilyn Heiman, director of the US Arctic programme at Pew said. “But the oil companies are just not prepared for the Arctic. The spill plans are thoroughly inadequate.”

U.S. Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy in U.S. Arctic Waters

© USGS

Oil Spill Prevention and Response in the U.S. Arctic Ocean: Unexamined Risks, Unacceptable Consequences details major gaps in response planning and Arctic marine ecosystem science. Government and industry oil spill response plans fail to account for the region’s remoteness and harsh conditions and fail to protect the fragile Arctic marine ecosystems and food webs that support walrus, polar bears and other marine mammals found nowhere else in the United States.

Report

Oil Spill Prevention and Response in the U.S. Arctic Ocean: Unexamined Risks, Unacceptable Consequences read more

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Arctic Drilling Poses Untold Risks, Study Concludes

November 11, 2010, 5:43 pm

By LESLIE KAUFMAN

An image of a an oil-spill response vessel from a Shell commercial promoting Arctic drilling.

Now that the moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling has been lifted by the Obama administration, the battle for the Arctic is heating up again.

The suspension on deep-sea drilling was of course a reaction to the disastrous blowout in the Gulf of Mexico that produced the biggest offshore oil spill in the nation’s history, gushing from April to July. The moratorium was lifted last month, about six weeks before a Nov. 30 expiration date. read more

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Potentially toxic fate of gray whales in Beaufort and Chukchi seas

BY A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF SHELL OIL USA

John,

I don’t have time to spend writing much of an article for you on Alaska and Shell’s drilling plans, but I will make an observation that I am sure the WWF has considered, but then maybe not.

California gray whales migrate to the Beaufort and Chukchi seas every summer to feed. These areas are their summer feeding grounds. Literally. Gray whales are interesting because unlike other baleen whales the gray whales are bottom feeders. They scoop up large amounts of mud off the ocean bottom and then strain it through their baleen plates for shrimp, crustaceans, small fish, etc. read more

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Greenland sees oil as key to independence

Financial Times

By Andrew Ward in Stockholm and Sylvia Pfeifer in London

Several of the world’s biggest oil companies are vying for access to Greenland after a gas discovery this week raised expectations for offshore exploration around the Arctic island nation, in spite of environmental concerns over drilling in an area known as “iceberg alley”.

UK-based Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil of Norway are among those bidding for licences as the Greenland government seeks to cash in on what experts believe could be among the world’s largest untapped hydrocarbon reserves. read more

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What happens if Statoil is involved in major Arctic Ocean blowout?

Comment by former Shell employee on the article: Shell, Statoil to Conduct Seismic Studies in Chukchi Sea

It is my understanding that Statoil, which just received permission from a Federal court to proceed with seismic exploration studies in the Chukchi Sea, was at one time wholly owned by the Norwegian government. Today it is a privatized company but the Norwegian government still holds a majority of the stock in the company. It is my understanding as well that Statoil is the last of the three Norwegian oil/gas production companies established by Norwegian government policy in the early 1970’s to develop their oil and gas resources in their sector of the North Sea. As such it is the ‘flagship’ oil company of Norway and responsible for the development of Norwegian oil and gas resources, which are quite substantial. read more

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Shell announces plans for summer offshore exploration drilling

Shell plans to drill its first test well in the Chukchi Sea in the summer of 2010 or 2011, using the Frontier Discoverer drill ship. The company also plans to drill a second well in the Beaufort Sea with the same vessel later in the summer, according to Pete Slaiby, general manager for Shell Exploration and Production's Alaska operations.

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Shell still plans Chukchi drilling despite ruling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell still plans to start exploration drilling next year in Alaska's potentially oil-rich Chukchi Sea in spite of a new legal setback, a company manager in Alaska said on Monday.

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Battle Over Offshore Drilling In Arctic Dwarfs ANWR

The biggest lease of the most recent sale went to Shell Gulf of Mexico, which spent $105 million for rights in the Chukchi Sea. Shell already had bought leases even further north and was ready with rigs when then-President George W. Bush lifted the ban on drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf.

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Shell’s record shows protecting environment a top priority (says Shell)

The best practices and technology we bring to our offshore work make Shell a preferred operator around the world.

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The Great Game Moves North

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court, for example, ruled last November that before the Royal Dutch Shell company can move forward with exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska -- for which it had already paid the U.S. government billions of dollars in leases -- the U.S. Interior Department needs to further study the environmental impacts of drilling on the sea's bowhead whale population and nearby indigenous communities.

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Federal court vacates Alaska denial of Beaufort oil drilling proposal

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A federal appeals court has vacated an opinion issued last year that halted Shell Oil Co. drilling plans for the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's northern coast, leaving both sides in the case wondering what the action means.

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Shell Oil’s setback is unfortunate for the company

...absent any successful appeal, Shell and the MMS will need to find or conduct more studies that satisfy the scientific judgments of the judges. If the company and agency cannot do so, the Beaufort Sea lease agreement they entered won't be worth more than the paper on which it's printed. That would be an unfortunate result for the company and Alaska.

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Shell Oil Cancels Alaskan Drilling Project, 800 Jobs At Stake

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she was disappointed in Shell's decision because of its impact on the job market.

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Shell asks for rehearing of Ninth Circuit court decision; delays 2009 Beaufort drilling

Shell said it will file a petition with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Dec. 18 to ask for a rehearing of the court’s decision to block Alaskan Beaufort Sea drilling.

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Similarities between Shell’s activities on Sakhalin Island and its current strategies in the Alaskan Arctic

POSTING ON “SHELL LIVE CHAT” BY Ex-Shell/SE staff: 11 December 2008

A quote from the blog at www.pacificenvironment.org/blog/ “We are struck time and time again by similarities between Shell’s activities on Sakhalin Island and the company’s current strategies in the Alaskan Arctic. Shell could easily write a textbook on how to break promises, give and take bribes, buy off scientists, employ divide and conquer tactics with local opposition, and emasculate environmental assessment processes.” read more

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Shell considers appealing Beaufort ruling

The company's general manager, Pete Slaiby, says the company was disappointed, particularly after investing $2.5 billion over the last three years on leases and operations in the state.

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Shell considers appealing federal court ruling

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The head of Shell Alaska says the company may appeal a recent federal court ruling that has delayed its plans to drill exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea next year.

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Shell Alaska debates appeal to Beaufort Sea drilling delay

FAIRBANKS — The head of Shell Alaska said the oil giant might appeal a recent court ruling that has indefinitely delayed plans to drill exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea during 2009.

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Shell drilling plan turned down by court of appeals

The U.S. Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) illegally approved plans by Shell Offshore Inc. to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea off the north coast of Alaska, according to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' Nov. 20 ruling

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How Arctic melting could benefit shippers, oil companies

Shell was the main buyer of the Chukchi leases in February, spending $2.1 billion. "Shell, like many other national and international oil companies, is actively assessing Arctic opportunities," said Shell spokeswoman Darci Sinclair.

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Shell loses Alaskan battle as court supports whales

Royal Dutch Shell has lost yet another battle to drill the deepest offshore Alaskan well after a federal appeals court ruled government approval of the plan violated environmental laws, writes Sheila McNulty.

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Big oil gets help leaving footprints in Alaska

Yogi Berra put it best: It's déjà vu all over again. As it drills wells in the Chukchi Sea, Shell Oil is delivering the same sheen of assurance to Arctic villages and native subsistence hunters. "As a company, we could never afford an oil spill in the Arctic. We just can't afford to have that happen," Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Co., said in an Anchorage speech this month.

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Appeals court rules against Arctic drilling plan

"The U.S. faces an energy supply crisis, and delays like this only extend and aggravate it. In times of shrinking global supply and ever increasing reliance on imported oil, the Alaska offshore could be a significant resource for national energy security," Shell said in a statement.

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Court voids Shell’s Beaufort Sea drilling plan

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday blocked a major oil-drilling program in the Beaufort Sea, ruling that federal officials failed to address environmental impacts when they granted permission to Shell Oil to drill wells over a three-year period. The company spent $2.1 billion earlier this year...

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Royal Dutch Shell can’t drill oil well off Alaska, court rules

Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, can't drill the deepest offshore Alaskan well after a federal appeals court said the government's approval of the plan violated environmental laws.

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Oil duties cut

The problems faced by western groups such as Royal Dutch Shell and BP, which have faced official campaigns that have disrupted their operations and forced them to accept worse terms for projects, are also a deterrent to new investment from outside Russia.

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Call of the wild

While Odum says he understands the need to preserve the environment and wildlife of the area, he believes Shell knows how to do that; it drilled offshore wells in Alaska in the early 1980s and 1990s and has voluntarily put together a “conflict-avoidance agreement” with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. The agreement bars Shell from waters during periods of heavy migration, which is when the hunters go out in small boats, armed with harpoons, to seek 50ft whales. It also calls on Shell to shut down when a whale comes close to its operations. But the environmentalists are not satisfied, which has left the future of Shell’s drilling operation with the courts.

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Shell comes under fire for role in Sakhalin audit

Email exchanges spanning three months and 40 pages show how officials at Shell sought to downplay the significance of a critical Russian environmental audit by persuading AEA to disperse its findings through the report, rather than leaving them in one potentially damning appendix

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America to probe Arctic for oil as sea ice melts

With oil at $114 a barrel, after hitting a record $147 in July, and sea ice melting fast, countries like Russia and the US are looking north for possible energy riches.

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‘Arctic Map’ could help divide natural resources

A new map of the Arctic has been drawn up by British cartographers which reveals the squabbling among countries staking a claim to its vast natural resources.

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Riches in the Arctic: the new oil race

The future of the Arctic will be less white wilderness, more black gold, a new report on oil reserves in the High North has signalled this week. The first-comprehensive assessment of oil and gas resources north of the Arctic Circle, carried out by American geologists, reveals that underneath the ice, the region may contain as much as a fifth of the world's undiscovered yet recoverable oil and natural gas reserves.

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Cold Comfort: Arctic Is Oil Hot Spot

Earlier this year, Royal Dutch Shell PLC spent more than $2 billion acquiring drilling leases in Alaska's Chukchi Sea.

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Arctic has 90bn barrels of crude

The Arctic holds as much as 90bn barrels of undiscovered oil and has as much undiscovered gas as all the reserves known to exist in Russia, US government scientists have said in the first governmental assessment of the region’s resources.

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