Royal Dutch Shell has applied for a permit to drill in the shallow waters of Alaska’s Beaufort Sea next year and unveiled plans for an improved oil-spill response system for the Arctic.
The well, in the Sivulliq prospect about 15 miles off Alaska’s North Slope, will be drilled in about 120 feet of water. The Noble Discoverer rig is lined up for the job, but a second rig has been stationed in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to be on hand to drill a relief well in the event of a blowout or other accident.
In 2009, the government approved Shell’s offshore Alaska plan for exploration, which included drilling in the Chukchi Sea, but environmental and community groups challenged the decision. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the plan in May, but the federal drilling moratorium and issuance of new rules following BP’s Deepwater Horizon accident further delayed plans to drill.
The new permit application is for just one well in the Beaufort. Any Chukchi plans will wait until courtroom challenges are resolved, Shell Alaska vice president Pete Slaiby said in a conference call last week.
“We have every reason to believe the administration will permit 2011 exploration drilling in Alaska,” Slaiby said. “We should have approval by the 5th of November, but that could be extended.”
Shell also released details of an oil-spill containment system to capture oil at the source in the event of a shallow-water blowout.
