ANCHORAGE, Alaska — More than four years after Royal Dutch Shell paid $2.8 billion to the federal government for petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea, a company vessel on Sunday morning sent a drill bit into the ocean floor, 70 miles off the northwest coast of Alaska.
Drilling began at 4:30 a.m., said Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith. Shell Alaska vice president Pete Slaiby called it historic.
“It’s the first time a drill bit has touched the sea floor in the U.S. Chukchi Sea in more than two decades,” Slaiby said in a prepared statement. “This is an exciting time for Alaska and for Shell.”
Federal officials estimate Arctic waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas hold 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Aug. 30 that Shell would be permitted to begin preparation work at the Chukchi site even though the company’s spill response barge has not been certified and is not positioned nearby.
Drilling is bitterly opposed by environmental groups that say oil companies have not demonstrated they can clean up a spill in ice-choked water.
