Chukchi Sea

The Department of Environmental Conservation has announced a study on the Chukchi Sea for a two-year coast assessment. DEC's Alaska Monitoring and Assessment Program will collect data from Aug. 22 to Sept. 9, as well as next summer. The gathering of data is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s larger National Coastal Assessment, which is surveying the environmental condition of the nation's full coastal water resources. DEC and other environmental agencies will be gathering data on water-quality evaluations, permitting action, baseline assessments and tracking environmental trends over time.

by Dan Joling Associated Press Writer Wednesday, July 21, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A federal judge says the federal government failed to follow environmental law before it sold billions in petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. The lease sale in February 2008 garnered nearly $2.7 billion for the federal government from the sale of 2.76 million acres in Arctic Ocean waters, including $2.1 billion in high bids submitted by Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline ruled Wednesday that the Minerals Management Service failed to analyze the environmental effect of natural gas development despite industry interest.

The clock is ticking for public comments on development in the Chukchi Sea, with the deadline set for Monday.    Earlier this month, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement held a public hearing in Anchorage, the latest in a series that focused on environmental concerns from a 2008 Chukchi Sea lease sale. Environmental and Alaska Native groups sued over the sale and a federal judge ordered the agency to conduct another study, saying environmental information was missing from the first one. The bureau is collecting public comment on the effect of natural gas development and whether the missing information is essential.

A federal judge in Anchorage has blocked federal offshore oil drilling leases in the Chukchi Sea. Oil companies may be disappointed, but some villages on the North Slope and environmental groups call Wednesday's decision a victory. U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline's ruling -- that the federal government failed to follow environmental law when it granted billions of dollars in leases in the Chukchi Sea -- isn't the final decision in the matter, but it could have major impacts on future drilling in the area.

Shell Oil's second and last drill ship, the Noble Discoverer, is on its way to the Chukchi Sea. The company's spokesperson says the Noble Discoverer left Dutch Harbor Saturday. The oil giant said its confident the Arctic Challenger containment barge will be completed by the end of the month. The certification of that barge is expected to trigger the final permits shell needs to drill. The Discoverer is among a Shell fleet heading north for planned exploratory offshore drilling.

  Rival Vessels are both sitting in the Port of Seattle tonight (Saturday).    And both are on the verge of an historic mission.    The first of those vessels consists of  2 unique drilling rigs -- refurbished by Shell Oil.   They are the Kuluk and the Noble Disocverer. If all goes as planned, then both vessels will enter the Chukchi Sea next month. They will beome the first rigs in more than 2 decades to conduct exploratory drilling there.    So much oil is thought to be trapped beneath the seabed of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, that it's hoped that within the next decade or 2, it will add a million barrels a day to the flow of the Trans Alaska Pipeline.    The other vessel -- which is determined to rewrite science, if not history, is the Greanpeace Ship, Esperanza.

After 6 years of planning, and $4.5 billion in expenditures, the Shell Drilling Rig "Noble Discoverer" is tonight (Sunday) just 10 miles from its goal. After an 8-day-journey from Dutch Harbor, the vessel now sits in the Chukchi Sea -- and is preparing to attach itself to 8 anchors that have already been prepositioned on the sea bottom by the Shell support vessel "Nanuq". Late this afternoon, Shell officials were elated to finally be so close to their goal -- especially after such a large investment of time and money.

This morning, (Sunday) Shell Oil has begun conducting an historic operation in the Chukchi Sea. For the first time in more than two decades, the company has started drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean -70 miles off the coast of Northwestern Alaska. It happened at 4:30 A.M., Alaska Daylight Time - when the drill bit first touched the sea floor. The last time that Shell drilled the "Burger Prospect" was way back in 1991. Back then, the Chukchi Sea showed huge promise for oil, but it could not be drilled commercially.

by Channel 2 News staff Friday, April 9, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It could be a busy summer for Shell Oil. The company announced Friday that it has received a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency to drill in the Beaufort Sea. The announcement comes on the heels of a similar permit issued last week for the Chukchi Sea. Late last year, Shell said if it had approval by early this year it will have a drill rig ready...

Noble Corporation announced Thursday that it is working to rectify deficiencies and maintenance issues raised by the U.S. Coast Guard during a recent inspection of the company's drillship, The Noble Discoverer. After The Discoverer finished its 2012 arctic drilling in the Chukchi Sea, Coast Guard inspectors enforced a port-state control detention for the drillship until the vessel was determined to be in accordance with U.S. and international regulations. On December 19th the Coast Guard determined that temporary repairs made to the vessel while in Seward Harbor were sufficient to lift the detention.  Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow with the U.S. Coast Guard said Shell was unable to effect repairs to their propulsion system, and have submitted a tow plan to transport the ship out of Seward Harbor.

This morning, (Sunday) Shell Oil has begun conducting an historic operation in the Chukchi Sea. For the first time in more than two decades, the company has started drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean -70 miles off the coast of Northwestern Alaska. It happened at 4:30 A.M., Alaska Daylight Time - when the drill bit first touched the sea floor. The last time that Shell drilled the "Burger Prospect" was way back in 1991. Back then, the Chukchi Sea showed huge promise for oil, but it could not be drilled commercially.

After 6 years of planning, and $4.5 billion in expenditures, the Shell Drilling Rig "Noble Discoverer" is tonight (Sunday) just 10 miles from its goal. After an 8-day-journey from Dutch Harbor, the vessel now sits in the Chukchi Sea -- and is preparing to attach itself to 8 anchors that have already been prepositioned on the sea bottom by the Shell support vessel "Nanuq". Late this afternoon, Shell officials were elated to finally be so close to their goal -- especially after such a large investment of time and money.

Shell Oil's second and last drill ship, the Noble Discoverer, is on its way to the Chukchi Sea. The company's spokesperson says the Noble Discoverer left Dutch Harbor Saturday. The oil giant said its confident the Arctic Challenger containment barge will be completed by the end of the month. The certification of that barge is expected to trigger the final permits shell needs to drill. The Discoverer is among a Shell fleet heading north for planned exploratory offshore drilling.

A deep low pressure system has stalled out over eastern Russia.  A frontal boundary is located over far NW Alaska.  Rain, some of it heavy, has spread into Nome, Kotzebue, St. Lawrence Island and Wainwright.  Winds will be strong near the front with gusts over 50 mph possible.  The rawest conditions will be in the Chukchi Sea and Bering Strait.  The low will remain stationary until Thursday night, so expect wet and windy weather until then....

  Rival Vessels are both sitting in the Port of Seattle tonight (Saturday).    And both are on the verge of an historic mission.    The first of those vessels consists of  2 unique drilling rigs -- refurbished by Shell Oil.   They are the Kuluk and the Noble Disocverer. If all goes as planned, then both vessels will enter the Chukchi Sea next month. They will beome the first rigs in more than 2 decades to conduct exploratory drilling there.    So much oil is thought to be trapped beneath the seabed of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, that it's hoped that within the next decade or 2, it will add a million barrels a day to the flow of the Trans Alaska Pipeline.    The other vessel -- which is determined to rewrite science, if not history, is the Greanpeace Ship, Esperanza.

Shell Oil Company's exploration plan for summer 2012 offshore drilling in the Chukchi Sea was conditionally approved by the Department of the Interior on Friday. Among the conditions in the approval is a measure which requires Shell to cease drilling in areas where there may be oil, 38 days before the start of November, a time when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) anticipates the sea will freeze over. The open water season in the Arctic, during which exploration is feasible, lasts just a few months, July through October.

Shell's Louisiana headquarters is packed with sophisticated technology designed to monitor the company's numerous offshore oil wells, which dot the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A simple map just won't do. When you're the world's largest oil company, the SEPCOVE (Shell Exploration and Production Collaborative Virtual Environment) is what you use to explain your work to visitors. It's a 3D wrap-around theater that can map out every single well in Shell's worldwide portfolio.

It's happening again -- walruses are heading on-shore by the thousands at a time when historically they stayed at sea. The scene is playing out this week along Alaska's northwest coast and scientists say it's a very visible reminder of much greater changes. The most recent report shows a herd of about 5,000 walruses on a beach north of Point Lay and a second haul-out of about 3,000 nearby. And like so many other recent disturbances up north scientists say this one too can be attributed to climate change.