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The conical drilling unit Kulluk sits grounded 40 miles (64 kms) southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska in this U.S. Coast Guard handout photo taken January 3, 2012.
An oil drilling rig that ran aground off an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Alaska last week was being towed in stable condition Monday, with no sign of environmental impact or fuel leakage, recovery workers said.
Salvage crews secured tow lines to the Kulluck drillship, a Royal Dutch Shell rig, prior to refloating the 266-foot diameter vessel late Sunday, according to the recovery and response team. They began towing it a few hours later to Kiliuda Bay, where they plan to anchor it.
The escort ships were using infrared sensors to examine the water for any sign of discharge from the vessel, and so far, none had been reported. The Coast Guard plans to send aircraft over the Kulluk at first light, "to look for any signs of sheen, weather permitting."
The rig is carrying about 143,000 gallons of diesel fuel and about 12,000 gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid, according to federal on-scene response coordinator, Coast Guard Capt. Paul Mehler.
More than 730 people are now involved in the response and recovery operation, the Coast Guard said.
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The Kulluck broke loose of its tether to a tug boat on New Year's Eve in "near hurricane" conditions and ran aground on the sand and gravel shore of Sitkalidak Island, 40 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
U.S. Coast Guard via Reuters
A salvage team aboard the conical drilling unit Kulluk moves lines from an emergency towing system in this U.S. Coast Guard handout photo taken January 2, 2013.
Environmentalists have seized on the accident as proof Arctic Ocean oil operations are too risky. The drilling rig was being moved from its Arctic drilling grounds to Seattle for maintenance, and had passed through the Bering Sea and was set to cross the Gulf of Alaska when the storm hit.
“Oil companies keep saying they can conquer the Arctic, but the Arctic keeps disagreeing with the oil companies,” Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a member of the Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement.
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A Shell official said the drilling rig was built with a double-sided hull of reinforced steel that is three inches thick. It recently had undergone $292 million in improvements before being put into service for a short time this summer in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast.
Sean Churchfield, operations manager for Shell Alaska, said an investigation will be conducted into the cause of the accident. He did not know whether the findings would be made public.
The Coast Guard said it would investigate too and make its findings public.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Good to see it was removed without incident. Might want to rethink your maintenance policy Shell. I think you could have performed the maintenance needed at Dutch. Nobody in their right mind tows something like that drill rig across the gulf of Alaska in the dead of winter.
Cudos to all crews including the responders, designers, and builders. Their hard work averted a certain environmental disaster.
take a good look at that shoreline when you get a minute. There's damage done already.
Just what damage has been done SF? Are you referring to that black stuff on the sides of the cliffs?? Or those black rocks in the water?
Can anyone confirm how thick the hull of the Titanic was?
Not thick enough I'd say.
Just lucky this time.
Try leaving a month earlier next time.
"but that will cut into our profitability"
Then perhaps legislate a $50 Billion bond in case of a spill.
Humans sure can do some impressive things. Those platforms in the pictures are awesome.
30 foot swells in that storm.
That must have been some ride.
How much do you want to bet they don't take this as a wake-up call and an indication that they shouldn't be trying to drill under those conditions, and they're right back out there when the weather clears up?
Hey Pedestrian....take a look again at those pictures. Do you see anything that indicates the rig hit the actual shoreline. In case you are wondering, the rig ran aground before reaching those rocks you have imagined are coated with something from the rig. By the way, the rig did not leak because it was well engineered. The loss of the tow line was compounded by the failure of all four engines on the main tow ship. Now, if it was me, I think I would be looking at why all four engines failed on the tow ship.
So lets see. The rig had already been used sucessfully without incident and was built like a brick $h!thouse and was being moved to Seattle for some maintenance and upgrades when the tug lost power and some moron in DC is jumping up and down claiming that this is proof that ocean drilling in the artic can't be done safely?
FAIL.
Oil's well that ends well.
Oh, opps. We have no idea what we're doing. Our bad.
Was that a complete thought?
Dear Oil companies, you have demonstrated time and time again you are too incompetent to drill in the open ocean or even transport oil in a ship. Please stay out of Alaska waters. Sincerely, an Anchorage resident.
Dome, don't you Alaska folks get some kind of oil revenue check? I don't know, just asking. Seems like I read that somewhere...