Starting and stoppingShell begins Chukchi drilling, then suspends operation because of ice floe Alan Bailey Petroleum News
In a good news, bad news few days for Shell in the Arctic offshore, the company started drilling in its Chukchi Sea Burger A prospect on Sept. 9, only to suspend drilling on Sept. 10, because of the proximity of an ice floe, approximately 12 miles by 30 miles in size. The company moved its drillship, the Noble Discoverer, and its attendant fleet away from the drilling site, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith told Petroleum News in a Sept 10 email.
“As a precautionary measure and in accordance with our approved Chukchi Sea ice management plan, Shell has made the decision to temporarily move off the Burger-A well to avoid potentially encroaching sea ice,” Smith said. “Once the ice moves on, the Noble Discoverer will re-connect to anchors and continue drilling.”
Ice plan As part of its ice management plan, Shell has protocols for determining when to move its drilling fleet away from a potential sea-ice encounter. Smith said that Shell uses a combination of satellite images, radar and on-site reconnaissance to monitor sea-ice movements, and that the ability to temporarily relocate the drilling equipment is one of the requirements for working in regions where sea ice can be present.
“We started watching this ice when it was over 100 miles away,” Smith said. “When the wind began to suddenly and consistently shift, we determined the ice could, potentially, impact our operations. That’s when we made the call to disconnect from the well.”
On Sept. 12 Smith said that the ice had moved over the Burger prospect but that Shell hopes to be able to move the drillship back on site around Sept. 16. Once the ice floe moves out of the area, the ice situation looks promising for the remainder of the open water season, Smith said.
Started Sept. 9 The ice-driven pause in the drilling must come as something of a disappointment for Shell, after drilling finally commenced at Burger at 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 9, following a series of delays to the start of the company’s Arctic outer continental shelf drilling program.
“Today marks the culmination of Shell’s six-year effort to explore for potentially significant oil and gas reserves, which are believed to lie under Alaska’s outer continental shelf,” Smith said after the Noble Discoverer finally started auguring a drill bit into the seafloor. “We look forward to continued drilling progress throughout the next several weeks and to adding another chapter to Alaska’s esteemed oil and gas history. We’re proud to be offshore Alaska, and we’re extremely proud of the preparation we’ve put in place to do it right.”
Shell has permission from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to drill the top section of the Burger well, pending the deployment of the company’s oil containment barge, the Arctic Challenger. The Arctic Challenger has been undergoing a refit for the containment system in Bellingham, Wash. Smith said Sept. 12 that the vessel had gone through three days of successful sea trials and should be ready to sail north shortly.
Shell has said that it will likely take the Arctic Challenger 14 to 18 days to sail from Bellingham to the Arctic. Shell cannot drill into potential hydrocarbon bearing zones until the Arctic Challenger has been deployed.
Kulluk in Beaufort The Kulluk, Shell’s Arctic floating drilling platform, is currently in a holding position in the Beaufort Sea, waiting for the completion of the annual subsistence whale hunt in the region of Shell’s Beaufort Sea drill sites. After the end of the whale hunt Shell plans to use the Kulluk to drill in the company’s Beaufort Sea Sivulliq prospect.
Meantime, Shell is running short of time to complete a well in the Chukchi Sea, since under the terms of the company’s approved exploration plan the company cannot drill into an oil bearing zone in the Chukchi after Sept. 24. Based on up-to-date ice forecasts, Shell has asked the Department of Interior for permission to extend the drilling deadline by up to two weeks — in response Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said that it would be premature to consider an extension to the drilling season until Shell’s containment barge has been certified for use.
Environmentalist response Following the ice-related suspension of the drilling at Burger, the Wilderness Society issued a press release saying that this latest twist in the saga of Shell’s Arctic offshore drilling program highlights the extreme challenges of operating in Alaska’s Arctic, with the size of the ice floe raising questions over the possibility of resuming the drilling this summer. Lois Epstein, the society’s Arctic program director, said that the situation shows that sea ice presents a problem for drilling in the Chukchi, even in the summer.
“Chukchi Sea oil likely will be among the most expensive oil in the world to produce and transport to markets,” Epstein said. “Today’s ice conditions illustrate the difficulties Shell and others are likely to face for decades to come.”
Environmental activist organization Greenpeace, which in July deployed a research vessel to the area of Shell’s Chukchi Sea operations, slammed Shell’s drilling project.
“Shell has ignored the world’s best scientists, as well as millions of people around the world, who have all said repeatedly that the melting Arctic is a dire warning, not an invitation to make a quick buck,” said Dan Howells, Greenpeace deputy campaigns director. “The company’s Arctic drilling program this summer has not only been an epic PR failure, but a dangerous logistical failure as well. They’ve only proven one thing this summer, that oil companies are simply not equipped to deal with the unique challenges of operating in the Arctic.”
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