Deepwater Horizon

The agency in charge of distributing reimbursement claims to businesses impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico says it's changing the way it evaluates claims. Kenneth Feinberg, who is running the $20 billion compensation fund for the BP oil spill, says one of the biggest problems is documentation. Feinberg says more than a third of the roughly 104,000 applicants need to do more to back up their claims. In Pensacola, Fla., some local businesses felt the impact.

A Senate Judiciary committee heard from an Alaskan Tuesday about the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Sen. Mark Begich asked Cordova resident Joe Banta to testify at a hearing focusing on protecting the victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Begich told the committee he appreciates the focus on making sure the victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster don't suffer the same injustices experienced by Alaskans. Banta sympathized with people in the Gulf of Mexico because he knows the toll a spill takes on a community.

by Channel 2 News staff Tuesday, June 01, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Billions of dollars were lost in BP stock Tuesday. The fall was compounded by the oil company's disclosure that it has spent about $1 billion dollars dealing with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Some analysts believe that BP's stock will rebound if renewed efforts to contain the spread of oil from the broken Deepwater Horizon well are successful, but others suggest that the oil company is likely to become a takeover target.

The next nine days are your chance to weigh in on Shell Oil plans for exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea. The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is taking public comment until July 15 on Shell’s revised exploration plan, which was submitted on July 5. The revised exploration plan incorporates new safety and environmental standards created after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil...

by Jackie Bartz Friday, May 14, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Torie Baker and Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council staffer Joe Banta recently returned from a week in Louisiana. The pair held dozens of meetings with locals affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. They shared their stories about living through the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, over twenty years ago. Baker and Banta say the hardest part is not having answers for what the future holds.

BP is suspending production at a drilling site on the North Slope. Spokesperson Steve Rinehart told Bloomberg.com that the company decided to halt construction at its Liberty rig after, "a number of engineering and design issues arose. " The billion-and-a-half dollar project was to use extended reach technology to drill eight miles east of Endicott, setting a new record for horizontal drilling. Rinehart says BP continues to learn from the Deepwater Horizon incident and will apply those lessons as it moves forward with the Liberty rig, "the liberty rig is one of  a kind it has unique capabilities because it needs to do a very challenging job, but as you can imagine with any one of kind big piece of equipment they are going to find items and elements that don't quite match what you hoped you have or what you need to have Pieces of the rig started arriving last summer.

by Mike Ross Monday, May 17, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Shell Oil is promising to take additional safeguards in its plans to drill in Alaska's Arctic waters. The extra precautions are outlined in a letter from Shell's president to the director of the federal Minerals Management Service. The Interior Department demanded that Shell outline how it plans to prevent a spill like the one in the Gulf of Mexico from occurring in Alaska. Shell says conditions for drilling this summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas will be much different than the Deepwater Horizon operation off Louisiana.

by Megan Baldino Monday, June 14, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- University of Alaska Anchorage Chancellor Fran Ulmer says she's honored to be named to President Obama's commission on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The White House made the announcement Monday. Ulmer says she will try to work as a bridge between Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, since Alaska has a lot of expertise on spill cleanup after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Because the post is voluntary, Ulmer will also remain UAA chancellor.

by Ted Land Monday, June 21, 2010 Editor's note: Tonight Channel 2 begins a special series profiling the Alaskans who have put their lives on hold to spend weeks near the Gulf of Mexico, helping residents recover from the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Reporter Ted Land and photojournalist Mike Nederbrock recently returned from Louisiana with some of their stories. GRAND ISLE, La. -- Local beaches were supposed to be teeming with visitors this time of year -- not oil. Waves containing BP crude are still washing ashore from the leaking Deepwater Horizon well 40 miles off the coast.

The next nine days are your chance to weigh in on Shell Oil plans for exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea. The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is taking public comment until July 15 on Shell’s revised exploration plan, which was submitted on July 5. The revised exploration plan incorporates new safety and environmental standards created after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil...

BP is suspending production at a drilling site on the North Slope. Spokesperson Steve Rinehart told Bloomberg.com that the company decided to halt construction at its Liberty rig after, "a number of engineering and design issues arose. " The billion-and-a-half dollar project was to use extended reach technology to drill eight miles east of Endicott, setting a new record for horizontal drilling. Rinehart says BP continues to learn from the Deepwater Horizon incident and will apply those lessons as it moves forward with the Liberty rig, "the liberty rig is one of  a kind it has unique capabilities because it needs to do a very challenging job, but as you can imagine with any one of kind big piece of equipment they are going to find items and elements that don't quite match what you hoped you have or what you need to have Pieces of the rig started arriving last summer.

Shell Oil is scaling back its plans for exploratory drilling in Arctic waters. The company says that for now its primary focus is the Beaufort Sea, as it continues to fight environmental groups in court. Shell says it's still excited about what it might someday find in the Chukchi Sea -- but until ongoing lawsuits are resolved, the company says its most realistic prospects for next summer lie just to the east in the Beaufort. A single well, perhaps a second: that's all Shell is asking for in its latest exploratory drilling plan.

The agency in charge of distributing reimbursement claims to businesses impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico says it's changing the way it evaluates claims. Kenneth Feinberg, who is running the $20 billion compensation fund for the BP oil spill, says one of the biggest problems is documentation. Feinberg says more than a third of the roughly 104,000 applicants need to do more to back up their claims. In Pensacola, Fla., some local businesses felt the impact.

BP is releasing its internal findings into the nation's worst oil spill. Nearly five months after the Deepwater Horizon’s fatal explosion, the company takes some responsibility but also passes the blame around. One hundred and forty-three days after the blast that killed 11 people and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP is now spreading blame.   In its report, almost 200 pages long, BP's safety officer outlines results of the company’s internal investigation, finding no single factor but a series of failures.

The State of Alaska is suing the federal government over what it says is an illegal moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Arctic -- but federal officials say the lawsuit is pointless because there is no moratorium. Gov. Sean Parnell and Attorney General Dan Sullivan announced the lawsuit at a press conference Thursday afternoon. At issue: a suspension of offshore drilling in the Arctic because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. "The federal government has to abide by the law when they impose a moratorium," Parnell said.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is on his way back to Washington, D.C. after a brief trip to Alaska. Salazar has a lot to consider over the next few months as he decides what to do about offshore drilling in the Arctic. Salazar did not indicate one way or the other if he plans to allow drilling next summer, but he did lay out an initial timeline. His visit was originally planned to last 10 days, but the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico -- the worst oil spill in U.S. history -- quickly shifted priorities and plans.

by Channel 2 News staff Tuesday, July 27, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A Senate Judiciary committee heard from an Alaskan Tuesday about the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Sen. Mark Begich asked Cordova resident Joe Banta to testify at a hearing focusing on protecting the victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Begich told the committee he appreciates the focus on making sure the victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster don't suffer the same injustices experienced by Alaskans.

by Lori Tipton Monday, July 12, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Analysts speculate that BP is trying to sell billions of dollars in assets to pay for cleanup efforts for its Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. There are multiple reports that the Houston-based Apache Corp is negotiating the purchase of BP's assets -- including its stake in the Prudhoe Bay oil field. State oil and gas officials say they believe this is merely speculation, but that it would not be the first time Apache has purchased assets from BP. On the North Slope, BP owns a 26 percent stake in Prudhoe Bay. The company also operates 14 other oil fields and four pipelines in the area.