Oil giant Shell, which abandoned U.S. Arctic exploration 21 years ago, plans to expand its search for oil by drilling the deepest offshore Alaskan well ever.
The oil company plans to drill one well to 14,000 feet beneath the sea floor (4,267 metres), which would exceed the deepest well ever drilled in Alaskan waters by 3,000 feet.
Shell is refurbishing two floating drill rigs, one in Canada and one in Singapore, which will be moved to the Beaufort Sea 90 miles northeast of Prudhoe Bay. Drilling is expected to begin August. “Shell is pretty high on the Arctic,” a spokesman for the company said. “It’s a really healthy place to look for hydrocarbons.”
Tell that to the polar bears…