The Kulluk drill rig arriving in Dutch Harbor, in western Alaska, on Mar. 5. From there, it will be loaded on a heavy-lift ship and hauled to a dry dock in Asia.
Credit Dockwise Photo
Shell plans to haul its two disabled Arctic rigs to Asia for repairs on "heavy-lift" ships like the Blue Marlin, shown carrying an oil rig.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had some tough words for Shell Oil Thursday as he announced the results of an investigation into Shell's Alaskan accidents in 2012. But he did not announce the tough consequences that environmentalists were hoping for in the wake of Shell’s year of Arctic mishaps.
The Obama administration launched a sweeping inquiry into Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling program on Tuesday. The probe, to be completed within 60 days, will look at the company’s mishaps in Alaska and in Puget Sound.
The announcement from Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar comes a week after Shell’s Kulluk oil rig ran aground in the Gulf of Alaska.
A shipwrecked oil rig that was bound for Seattle has been floated off the rocks and towed to a safe harbor in the Gulf of Alaska. A fleet of nine ships accompanied Shell Oil’s Kulluk drill rig on the 45-mile tow. Shortly before noon Pacific Time, the rig reached its anchorage in sheltered Kiliuda Bay on Kodiak Island.
Credit Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis / US Coast Guard
A Coast Guard helicopter crew conducts hoists of the first six of 18 crewmen from the mobile drilling unit Kulluk 80 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska, 12/29/12. Rescue was prompted after there were problems with the tow Friday.
