Barge Flaws Delay Shell Alaska Drilling, Coast Guard Says
A barge Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) plans
to use during oil exploration off Alaska’s north coast is being
held up by U.S. Coast Guard inspectors, delaying the start of
the drilling the company intended to begin this month.
The inspectors said the barge, intended to be part of
Shell’s oil-spill response, has deficiencies in fire-fighting
and electrical systems that must be corrected before a permit is
issued. The agency said the company is seeking to ease the
standards the barge will need to meet.
“The number of deficiencies cause a delay, because they
have to be corrected, and then the corrections have to be
inspected, so that takes time,” Christopher O’Neil, a
Washington-based spokesman for the Coast Guard, said today in a
phone interview. “Until the vessel meets the standards, it’s
not going to get certificated. Until it’s certificated, it can’t
operate as intended.”
The company, which plans to drill five exploratory oil
wells this year, must complete any drilling by late September in
the Chukchi Sea, and end of October in the Beaufort Sea to avoid
the onset of ice.
Besides the Coast Guard certificate, Shell has to obtain a
final permit from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental
Enforcement.
The company didn’t reply to e-mails and a telephone call
seeking comment.
A Shell spokesman told the Los Angeles Times, which
reported the Coast Guard request in today’s editions, that the
company is working to resolve the issues and the modifications
won’t delay drilling operations.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Katarzyna Klimasinska in Washington at
kklimasinska@bloomberg.net;
Carol Wolf in Washington at
cwolf@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jon Morgan at
jmorgan97@bloomberg.net
Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-06/barge-flaws-delay-shell-alaska-drilling-coast-guard-says.html
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