Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Shell Alaska oil rig refloated, towing to begin

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A recovery team has refloated a Shell that grounded last week near an Alaska island and stood ready to start towing it on Monday, weather permitting.

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. REUTERS/U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Painter/Handout

A tow line was attached to the Kulluk drillship on Sunday at about 4 p.m. (0100 GMT) and all elements were in place for towing operations to proceed on Monday, a statement from the joint command centre for the Kulluk responders said.

Yet weather in the area remains a challenge, with the National Weather Service issuing a weather warning through Sunday night and forecasting rain, snow and winds of between 15 and 30 miles an hour.

The fortunes of the Kulluk, which started drilling a well in the Beaufort Sea late last year, face particular scrutiny because it was a key part of Shell's controversial and error-prone 2012 Arctic drilling program.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Dutch Shell Plc hope the rig can be towed from its grounding site on the coast of tiny Sitkalidak Island to a sheltered bay nearby, so experts can make a better assessment of its sea worthiness.

Sean Churchfield, Shell's Alaska ventures manager, has said salvage teams found no signs of breaches to any of the Kulluk's fuel tanks and only one area where seawater leaked onboard. The tow plan has been approved by government regulators.

Coast Guard Captain Paul Mehler had said the right combination of tides and weather, as well as the arrival of certain equipment, was required to begin towing.

The Kulluk went aground in a storm on December 31 after the ship towing it lost power and its tow connection in the Kodiak archipelago, far from where it began its well in September and October.

The rig had been headed for winter maintenance near Seattle.

REMOVAL PLAN

The removal plan is to pull the Kulluk about 30 miles to Kiliuda Bay, a site previously designated as a refuge for disabled vessels. Whether it continues on for its maintenance work will be determined after the assessment, Churchfield said.

The rig has about 155,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products aboard, none of which have spilled, state environmental regulators said.

The Aiviq, the vessel that lost power and its tow connection to the Kulluk a week ago, is the ship designated to tow it to safe refuge. An investigation into its failures is not yet complete, Churchfield said.

Alaska environmentalist Rick Steiner questioned Shell's reliance on the Aiviq and said he believed the problems with the Kulluk and its other contracted drillship, the Noble Corp -owned Discoverer, would preclude any drilling this year. "The 2013 season is on the rocks in Kodiak with the Kulluk," he said.

Shell officials in Alaska have so far declined to comment on the upcoming Arctic drilling season.

Prior to the Kulluk accident, Shell's main problem in Alaska was the Discoverer, which had been assigned to Chukchi Sea work but failed to meet federal air standards, prompting Shell in June to ask the Environmental Protection Agency for a permit with looser limits for air pollution.

In September, the ship dragged its anchor in the Aleutian port of Dutch Harbour and nearly grounded on the beach there.

After completing a truncated 2012 drill season in the Chukchi, the Discoverer was temporarily detained by the Coast Guard in the port of Seward, Alaska. The Coast Guard cited numerous safety and environmental-systems deficiencies, which Shell and Noble vowed to fix before the summer season began.

(Additional reporting by Sarah Young in London; Editing by Braden Reddall and David Holmes)

News

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Shell Alaska oil rig refloated, towing to begin

By Yereth Rosen