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Shell
Shell's Noble Discoverer drilling rig sits above an oil field in Alaska's Chukchi Sea on Saturday, Sept. 8.
More than 20 years after the last drill bit went into the Chukchi Sea floor off northern Alaska, a Shell drilling rig on Sunday began work that the company hopes will lead to a bonanza that adds to its bottom line and extends Alaska's oil economy.
"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," Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby said in a statement.
Welcomed by the Obama administration, the exploration in Alaska's Arctic waters has become a major battleground for environmental groups, which fear oil spills in the pristine area already threatened by warming temperatures and reduced sea ice.
"The melting Arctic is a dire warning, not an invitation to make a quick buck," said Dan Howells, a campaign director for Greenpeace.
Shell has paid the U.S. $2.8 billion for lease rights to areas in the Chukchi and neighboring Beaufort Sea, and the U.S. estimates those waters hold 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
On Aug. 30, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that Shell, even though its spill response barge was not yet certified by the Coast Guard, would be permitted to drill pilot holes and then dig what's called a cellar to hold a critical safety device.
The pilot holes will be 1,300 feet below the ocean floor and roughly 4,000 feet above a known petroleum reservoir.
Marvin Odum, Shell Oil president, discusses Tropical Storm Debby and its impact on oil production, oil drilling in Alaska and more, with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.
Shell argues there's little chance of a spill like BP's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. Drilling will be in water about 130 feet deep, it says, versus 5,000 at the site of the gulf spill, and wellhead pressure is expected to be far less.
Support vessels could quickly choke off and cleanup any spill, Shell adds.
Workers on Friday moored the drill ship, the Noble Discoverer, in heavy seas with eight anchors that each weigh 15 tons. The diameter of the circular pattern of anchors is more than 6,500-feet, it added.
The immediate goal is to dig a 20-by-40-foot mud-line cellar that will house a blowout preventer below the seafloor, protecting it from ice scraping the bottom.
Shell's oil spill response barge remains in Bellingham, Wash., and is expected to undergo sea trials over the weekend, Shell said.
Shell
This illustration shows how far drilling will go for now, as well as what the cellar for the blowout preventer will look like.
Shell last explored in the area in 1991, but it was not economically viable to produce from there at the time.
Shell's other Arctic Ocean drill ship, the Kulluk, is in the Beaufort Sea waiting for the fall whale hunt to end before moving to the drill site.
The company isn't expecting to drill for oil until next year, since it only has a few weeks before sea ice forms in the area. It will then resume drilling next summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Drill away, and bring the oil our way. Drill more in the gulf too. More oil, more gas, more jobsand less dependent on foreign oil. Ban exports of any oil extracted from new leases too and hire bonified US citizens to work those rigs too.
To Drill for Oil and Gas, well it's a good thing...Once we have parity with the Environmental Groups, then and only then will those groups recognize that sufficient Oil being produced will be a good thing. Quality in the way we Drill as well as Transport and Refine is the answer..Environmentalst are just about wrong on every front..The Environment is fragile, we all know that, but then so is the Human Element of the Environment.
New and Better Refineries is what we need to bring the price of Gas at the pumps down. The charade is over, there is no shortage, there is no reason for adding Bio Fuel to the equation, stop that nonsense before all our Food Prices go off the Charts
Having witnessed the demise of several economies in some of the smaller towns in Washington State, I saw etire communities ruined, saw families destroyed, grown Men reduced to guilt ridden pathetic figures. Men that used to feed their families with monies earned Logging, then came the Spotted Owl, once revered by environmental groups. Now since they've effectively shut down all forms of logging on public property, they no longer claim to think of the Spotted Owl as sacred, for some reason, this Spotted Owl is just another ploy, a myth that there is anything special or endangered about this bird.
What is interesting is; The Environmental Commiunity will sieze any opportunity to exploit any animal, insect, bird or for that matter any entity to further their cause, both politically and economically. Don't you see the horror in all this....? While Tens of Millions of Americans go with out, those in the Environmental, yes, those that are born of wealth, private schools and oh, hes so much privelige, they really have no self worth, therefore, they are easily enlisted into the ranks of the Eco-Terror or at the very least Environmental Radicalism.
When are the American People going to wake up, smell the Roses, sure, to be Environmentally Aware, well, that's a good thing, however, when you cross the line, you too become a threat to the sovereignty of the American Way of Life or America itself. For those of you that wish to combat this new Terrorist movement, educate yourself, don't buy into the mantra that is put forth by these folks, for they are deceitful and filled with misinformation.
Power is granted to those that control the Water and Oil, doesn't this seem to be what is taking place, all of the Conservancies, Green Peace, Sierra Club, these are the nucleus of the problem, these organizations coupled with the New EPA Radicals, America is Doomed if the citizens don't wake up.
November will be one of Awakening, however if Obama is reelected, it will be the further decline of America as a Great Nation.....Reduced to that of a Third World Country.
I too am sometimes tempted to use the phrase 'wake up' -- but I try to resist as it always seems to be coupled with simplistic, shallow, not-so-bright rants.
And our government wouldn't approve the pipeline from Canada why??!!??!! I would have to guess that either Shell had more $$ to offer our government or a number of our honored and trusted politicians own Shell stock!
Grand,
Could be. But there was a major backlash against that pipeline from 'all sectors', environmentalists to ranchers and you can bet votes even trumps $ for those who want to be reelected. Only the Inuit seemed to be directly effected by this drilling.
You must remember Greenpeace is an outfit that makes its points by breaking the laws and sponsoring destruction, arson, and horribly dangerous actions on the high seas. The Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum Company has always been good to me.
COYOTEHUNTER
I explored the whole northslope between 1974 and 1980, it was the greatest adventure i've done besides surviving 2 tours in vietnam.... the company i was with found large reservoirs of oil, i worked one year out on sea ice, not a fun place to be, very dangerous....glad to see we are finally going to drill for the oil we found over 30 years ago....
Who is we ? These oil companies sell out to the highest bidder and will prob be china and we will get stuck with high fuel prices once again as usuall .
I have never forgotten the line in the movie "Blood Diamonds" that went The natural resourses of a country are the sovereign property of its people. We are being raped of our natural resourses just like those poor people in Third World Countries.
Hey why not build 1 or 2 more refineries.No we can't the EPA now runs the country.We might invade some unknown tick turd species.Can't have that can we?Anyway the big oil companies can make more money by creating supply problems.You know a fire here and hey one over there.Big oil can make more money by selling our surplus oil overseas.
Shell had to halt drilling due to ice.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/APNEWSBREAK-Shell-halts-Chukchi-Sea-drilling-3854034.php