Shell heads for Alaska while awaiting final drilling permits

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – One Royal Dutch Shell offshore drill rig is headed to Alaska and a second is poised to leave, despite lacking final federal permits that would allow exploratory drilling and possible confirmation of rich oil reserves under the Chukchi Sea.

A spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell PLC said that’s routine. But an attorney for Oceana, one of dozens of groups objecting to Arctic offshore drilling, said seeing Shell’s flotilla sail north puts pressure on federal agencies to sign off on the permits.

“They’re not conditions that lead to good decision-making, good governance and good protections for our ocean,” Mike LeVine said. “These are the kind of situations that the public rightfully is concerned about.”

The rigs were the target of protests when they docked in Seattle earlier this month. Protesters formed a blockade with kayaks and other vessels as one of the rigs left the Port of Seattle on its way to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean.

Starting next month, Shell proposes to drill up to four exploration wells over two years in the Chukchi Sea. Exploration wells could confirm economically recoverable oil in what’s suspected to be one of the last untapped prospects on the planet. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are more than 26 billion barrels of oil in the Alaska outer continental shelf.

Drilling is bitterly opposed by environmental groups that say Arctic offshore oil is best left in the ground. Burning Arctic oil will add to climate warming, disturb an ecosystem under stress from a severe summer sea ice loss, and put polar bears, whales, walrus and ice seals in harm’s way from a blowout or spill, according to critics.

Shell spent $2.1 billion for Chukchi leases in 2008.

Transocean’s Polar Pioneer, a semi-submersible drilling unit, is on its way north behind two tugboats to a final staging port, Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said.

Crews are fastening materials onto the Noble Discoverer, a 572-foot drill ship, at the Port of Everett for the voyage to Alaska.

If the company receives all its permits, it could begin drilling July 15 on the Burger prospect 70 miles off Alaska’s northwest shore. Shell’s in-house experts forecast sea ice will be gone a little later, the third week of July.

The company still needs permits to drill from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Smith said.

Shell also is awaiting letters of authorization allowing for any possible harassment of walrus and polar bears.