Shell may be ready for the Arctic, but its oil spill barge isn't - Los Angeles Times

Posted -July 5, 2012, 8:04 p.m - By Kim Murphy - Los Angeles Times

SEATTLE — A unique ice-class barge designed to clean up any oil spills that might result from Shell Alaska’s upcoming operations in the Arctic Ocean has so far failed to acquire final U.S. Coast Guard certification. Engineers from the oil company say it's no longer appropriate to require them to meet the rigorous weather standards originally proposed.

Further, sea trials for the Arctic Challenger — a 37-year-old barge undergoing a multimillion-dollar retrofit — have been delayed in Washington state as federal  inspectors insist on improvements to electrical, piping and fire protection systems, a senior Coast Guard inspector confirmed Thursday.

The delay in certification adds another notch of uncertainty to Shell’s narrow window for operations in the Arctic, which already is tight because drilling must halt by September in the Chukchi Sea and by October in the Beaufort Sea to avoid the dangerous advance of sea ice that comes with winter. Though drilling initially was scheduled to commence by mid-July, unusually heavy sea ice from the past winter has postponed that, probably until the first week of August.

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has said it will not issue final drilling permits until the Arctic Challenger receives final Coast Guard certification.

Both of Shell’s drilling rigs set sail for Alaska in late June, and federal officials last week conducted successful tests of a specially designed capping stack designed to control a blowout. Only the Arctic Challenger remains stuck in Washington state awaiting Coast Guard approval.

The 294-foot barge, being revamped by Superior Energy Marine Technical Services in Bellingham, Wash., is designed to carry an array of sophisticated containment equipment that would collect spilled oil, separate it, flare off any natural gas and pump the remainder onto a storage tanker for removal. It would be deployed in the event that a blowout preventer or a capping device failed to completely halt the flow of oil from a failed well.

A difference in standards 

Balance of Post at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-arctic-drilling-shell-barge-20120705,0,4632140.story