Protesters take to the waters amid Shell’s Arctic Exploration Plans

Protesters take to the waters amid Shell’s Arctic Exploration Plans

By Milos Bezanov

Following on from earlier attempts, Shell has moved forward it’s Arctic exploration ambitions this week, according to a BBC news report

The 122m tall (400ft) “Polar Pioneer Drilling rig”, located in Seattle and the first of two rigs to be moved into the port city, triggered protests in Elliott Bay on Saturday

Shell, which successfully secured “conditional approval” from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Management, an agency within the U.S. department of Interior, still needs certification from the federal government and the state of Alaska before drilling can proceed

“The potential in the Arctic is very, very significant” says Shell Chief Executive Ben Van Beurden. Estimates have Arctic potential at 24 billion barrels, accounting for 13% of world oil supply and 20% of undiscovered natural gas. Shell believes it has a 50% chance of finding Oil

Shell’s setbacks

Protesters surrounded the Polar Pioneer to a 91 meter buffer, at the centre of which was “The People’s Platform”, a 372 square-meter (4,000 square-foot) barge powered by renewable energy.

Taking issue with recent developments in Elliot Bay, protesters argue that oil rigs as the cause of “ecological disaster and…[a worsening of]..climate change” citing Shell’s previous attempts at Arctic exploration coming to an end through oil rig fires and safety failures as evidence to go by.

Shell, on the other hand, is heavily invested, with U.S.$6 billion funnelled into Arctic exploration, the company will rely on existing infrastructure as a springboard; “We didn’t abandon all the infrastructure, you cannot, for such a large and complex operation, scale down and scale up whenever you want….we have been preparing all this for a potential return” says Ben van Beurden

Future Arctic Exploration?

Shell plans to drill 40 meters deep, with vessels in place as backups in case of emergency.

Previous projects struck difficulty when drills reached oil bearing zones and Shell did not have a spill response barge on site in the event of a barge breaking away and running aground.

However, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith insists Shell has learned from past mistakes; “The approval of our Revised Chukchi Sea Exploration Plan is an important milestone and signals the confidence regulators have in our plan.”