Royal Dutch Shell intends to resume drilling in the Arctic this year after it put its program on ice following a series of mishaps in 2012, Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden told reporters at a Thursday conference in London
“Yes, we are minded to drill in the Chukchi Sea,” he said, according to Reuters.
The news comes days after the Obama administration included three lease sales, including Cook Inlet and the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off Alaska’s coast, in its draft five-year offshore drilling plan that would run from 2017 through 2022. But the proposal also would block drilling in 9.8 million acres of environmentally sensitive Arctic waters.
Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called development of the Arctic “critically important.”
“The Arctic holds 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil reserves and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas deposits, so the potential for Alaska is immense,” he said.
The Interior Department is drafting regulations for drilling in the Arctic, which is partly a response to the problems Shell experienced with its Arctic program. Other major oil companies have been hesitant to wade into the U.S. Arctic following Shell’s miscues and the forthcoming regulations, but still hold leases in the area.
Shell stopped drilling in the Arctic after two of its ships were damaged in accidents, one of its drilling rigs ran aground on an Alaskan island, and its spill-containment equipment collapsed, among other environmental and safety violations.
Environmental groups slammed Shell for planning to resume drilling, saying the company’s track record showed drilling was too risky in the Arctic.
“Shell has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted to drill safely in our Arctic waters. The company’s disturbing trend of failing to meet safety and pollution requirements, while purposefully downplaying the risks posed by the shifting ice floes and extreme Arctic conditions cannot be ignored,” said Dan Ritzman, Alaska program director for the Sierra Club.
