Shell Vessels Sail for Chukchi Sea Ahead Of Anticipated Receipt of Drilling Permits

摘要

The two drilling rigs and many of the support vessels marshalled by Royal Dutch Shell Plc for its drilling plans in the Arctic offshore are on their way north from the Aleutians in anticipation of receiving two drilling permits imminently. Shell's plan remains one for multiple oil wells, "and our goal is to safely complete as much work as we can before the sea ice returns," company spokesman Curtis Smith said July 21. The drilling is to be conducted at the Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea. The plan for two wells to drill this summer was complicated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which insisted that no two wells be drilled at the same time within 15 miles of each other in order to minimize disturbance of marine mammals (46 ER 2019, 7/3/15).