Safety issues continue to plague BP. Workers for BP allege that a labour shortage at Prudhoe Bay, the United States’ largest oil field has made conditions ripe for fatigue-related accidents similar to one that killed 15 employees at the company’s Texas plant in 2005. BP has failed to fill about a dozen vacancies for highly … Read More
Arctic oil
Outrage As Shell Gets Green Light to Drill in Beaufort Sea
The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) has approved Shell’s plan to drill as many as a dozen exploration wells over the next two years in the Beaufort Sea. The agency, which supervises Alaska’s oil and gas leasing released an environmental assessment that said that the project would not cause “undue or serious harm or damage … Read More
The $30 Billion Alaskan Gas Pipeline
The concept of huge gas pipeline that snakes all the way from Alaska’s North Slope across Canada to the lower American states draws closer to being a reality. Alaska’s new Governor Sarah Palin, has announced that she will submit her natural gas pipeline legislation within two weeks. Anyone interested in building the line will have … Read More
Shell Plans “Aggressive” Drilling Programme in Arctic
Shell is gearing up for an “aggressive” 2007 offshore exploration programme in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, with plans to operate two drilling vessels and drill three wells. “We like Alaska. It’s part of the United States. We have a lot of experience here, and it’s good to be back,” says Rick Fox, manager of Shell’s … Read More
Shell Plans Deepest Alaskan Well Ever
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 … Read More
Democrats Move to Protect ANWR
The Anchorage Daily News reports how “opponents of oil drilling in ANWR – the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – are going on the offense after playing defense for a quarter of a century. They want the new Democratic Congress to make an oft-challenged drilling ban permanent.
The Arctic is not the Answer
Greenland’s ice-caps may be melting at an alarming rate due to climate change, but that is not stopping the country issuing further oil and gas licenses. Twelve companies have advanced to the prequalification stage under the country’s latest licensing round. Greenland is offering eight blocks covering about 92,000 sq km for exploration off Central-West Greenland. … Read More