A ruling by the city of Seattle may throw a wrench into Shell's Arctic drilling plans but won't keep the company from boring two new wells in the Chukchi Sea this summer, a top executive vowed Tuesday.
Although "it's not my preferred approach ... we have backup plans," said Ann Pickard, Royal Dutch Shell's executive vice president for the Arctic. "I don't think this will delay the program."
At issue is Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's ruling this week that the city port must get a new land-use permit to serve as a home base for Shell's Arctic drilling rigs and support vessels. Seattle's Department of Planning and Development concluded that Shell's plans to moor its ships at the port's Terminal 5 - before sending them north to Alaska - fall outside the scope of the existing permit and underlying environmental analysis authorizing the site to function as a cargo terminal.
It could take weeks to obtain new permits. But Pickard insists it won't derail Shell's Arctic quest.
"The best place we figured out was Terminal 5, and we would like to see that come through," Pickard said in an interview on the sidelines of the Offshore Technology Conference. "If that doesn't work, there are other alternatives, but that is the ideal location, and it will provide a lot of jobs and income for Seattle, and I think it is the right way to go."
Pickard did not volunteer specifics, but Shell's contracted Polar Pioneer drilling rig is now moored at Port Angeles, Wash. And its contracted drill ship Noble Discoverer is en route to the area. During its last round of Arctic drilling, in 2012, Shell briefly stationed its rigs at Dutch Harbor, but most of its work to repair and refurbish drilling rigs was conducted at the Seattle port.
"It's unfortunate," Pickard said of the recent Seattle setback. "There are other ports that would like us to be there, and they continue to be supportive."
In Seattle, Shell's Arctic quest is clashing with the area's environmental sensibilities. Environmentalists have raised objections to using Shell as a home base for an Arctic drilling campaign they say jeopardizes the area's fragile ecosystem and risks unleashing more fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.