Arctic drilling might wait until 2013, Interior Secretary Salazar says

A delay in getting oil-spill equipment into the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska means that Shell Oil might not be able to start the first offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean this year as planned, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Monday. Shell is still working to meet Coast Guard requirements for its spill-containment barge, the Arctic Challenger, but “if they are not met, there won’t be Shell exploration efforts that will occur this year,” Salazar said sharply on a conference call from Anchorage, Alaska. Heavy sea ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas pushed back Shell’s initial plans to begin drilling in July, but Salazar argued on Monday that Shell bears the blame for not being ready to start drilling now. “It’s not the ice conditions that have held up the effort,” he said. “They have not been able to get it done," he said, referring to the incomplete and uncertified containment vessel. “If they had gotten it done, they may already be up there today.” Shell issued a statement later on Monday saying it agreed with Interior that drilling should not begin until the containment barge is in place, but it still hopes to begin drilling this summer. Shell is required to be out of the Chukchi Sea by Sept. 24 in advance of the harsh Arctic fall and winter and out of the Beaufort Sea by the end of October...more