From FUEL FIX
Shell’s Kulluk drilling rig runs aground near Alaskan island
Posted on January 1, 2013 at 4:26 am by Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Accidents, Alaska, arctic
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A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew hoists crew members from the Shell’s mobile drilling unit Kulluk in 15- to 20-foot seas 80 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. (Photo: Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis)
Shell’s Kulluk drilling rig ran aground Monday night near Alaska’s Kodiak Island after a five-day fight to tow the vessel through a fierce storm and 70-mph winds.
No one was on board the 29-year-old conical drilling unit when it hit rocks on the southeast side of the uninhabited Sitkalidak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, and a powerful tugboat pulling the rig disconnected under Coast Guard orders around 45 minutes before the accident.
Although officials said there were no reports of any spill and a Coast Guard overflight revealed no sheen, about 139,000 gallons of ultra-low sulphur diesel and 12,000 gallons of combined lubrication oil and hydraulic fluid are on board the Kulluk.
Overflights are scheduled for Tuesday to assess the situation, and officials plan to send salvagers to the unit to investigate its integrity.
“The extreme weather conditions and high seas continue to be a challenge. We have more than 250 people actively involved in the response efforts,” said Susan Childs, the incident commander with Shell. “Our priority right now is maintaining the safety of our response personnel and evaluating next steps.”
Two Shell-contracted tugboats, including the Alert and the Aiviq had been tugging the Kulluk to Port Hobron on the southeast side of Kodiak Island to weather the fierce storm in the Gulf of Alaska. The movement was timed to take advantage of a break in the turbulent weather that has battered the Kulluk and response boats since Thursday, when the Aiviq first lost its tow line to the rig and its four engines failed.
Since then, no fewer than four attempts to keep tow lines tethered to the Kulluk — both to keep it from drifting and to move it to safe harbor — have broken.
The Kulluk ultimately grounded around 8:48 p.m. Alaska Standard Time Monday night, about four hours after the Aiviq separated from the vessel. At 8:10 p.m., the unified command — a formal structure involving Shell, the Coast Guard and state, local and other partners — ordered the Alert to release its tow line, out of concern for the nine crew members aboard that vessel.
Once the Aiviq’s tow line separated, officials said, grounding was a certainty; at that point, the Alert crew worked to steer the rig to a location where environmental damage would be minimal.
The Kulluk is now located on the northern shore of Ocean Bay in water depths of about 32 to 48 feet. The island itself is uninhabited, and the nearest town is Old Harbor, located on the opposite side of Kodiak Island from where the Kulluk is grounded.
In a hastily called news conference, Shell and Coast Guard officials stressed that the double-hulled Kulluk is not on land, even as bad weather prevented them from immediately moving more response vessels to the site.
“At this time, the weather condition does not allow us to move response equipment,” Childs said.
Lois Epstein, a professional engineer and the director of The Wilderness Society’s Arctic Program, said the episode shows that Shell’s fleet was unable to overcome the fierce weather so common in Alaskan and Arctic waters.
“In a demonstration of the power of Alaska’s fierce weather and seas, tugboats were unable to prevent Shell’s massive, $290 million Beaufort Sea drilling rig from grounding near Kodiak Island,” Epstein said. While it’s fortunate “there was no loss of life,” the incident proves that “Shell and its contractors are no match for Alaska’s weather and sea conditions, either during drilling operations or during transit.”
Before problems began on Thursday, Shell had been towing the Kulluk south to a Seattle shipyard for maintenance, roughly two months after using the drilling rig to bore the first half of an exploratory oil well in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska.
A conical drilling unit without its own propulsion engines, the Kulluk spent more than a dozen years hibernating in Canada before Shell snapped it up for its new Arctic venture and spent roughly $300 million upgrading the rig. The vessel, which looks like a giant upside down umbrella, is designed to be lifted by floating ice, which can then break under the force of its pointed hull.
It is unclear whether the vessel can be salvaged or how it will weather the Gulf of Alaska storm while grounded.
Shell has separately used the drillship Noble Discoverer bore the first half of an exploratory well in the Chukchi Sea. That drillship is now near Seward, after having propulsion problems and being ordered by the Coast Guard to repair safety system and pollution-control system deficiencies. Separately, a fire broke out in the rig stack on the Discoverer while it was in Dutch Harbor, Alaska in mid November.
Both episodes provide fresh fodder to offshore drilling foes who insist that Arctic oil exploration is too risky.
The most recent incident with the Kulluk has unfolded close to a Coast Guard station in Kodiak, facilitating a quick response. In the past five days, the Coast Guard has deployed helicopters, C-130 aircraft and at least two cutters to assist the Kulluk and Shell’s contracted ships. The Coast Guard also evacuated 18 crew members from the Kulluk.
Meanwhile, Shell has deployed its own armada of contracted response vessels.
Roughly 250 people have been huddled in an Anchorage office building planning the response, speaking with crews of the response vessels and poring over weather reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Much of Sunday and Monday, officials had been scrutinizing potential safe harbors for the Kulluk and the rescue ships traveling with it. At one point, the Shell-contracted ship MV Guardsman was sent north to do reconnaissance on potential sites, including small ports as well as sheltered bays.
The hope had been to make it to safe harbor before winds and waves picked up again.
State environmental officials are acutely aware of the wildlife and fisheries in the region. The south side of Kodiak Island includes critical habitat for endangered Steller sea lions.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, praised “the heroism displayed by the U.S. Coast Guard, Shell personnel and other responders.”
“The focus now needs to be on securing the Kulluk and protecting local residents and the environment from potential fuel spills,” Murkowski said.
Earlier coverage:
Drilling rig set to weather fierce storm in small Alaska port
Tow line breaks as drill rig towed to safe harbor
Coast Guard evacuates 18 from drilling rig
Coast Guard assisting drilling rig stranded near Alaska
Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Jennifer A. Dlouhy covers energy policy and other issues for The Houston Chronicle and other Hearst Newspapers from Washington, D.C. Previously, she reported on legal affairs for Congressional Quarterly. She also has worked at The Beaumont Enterprise, The San Antonio Express-News and other newspapers. Jennifer enjoys cooking, gardening and hiking. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and infant son.
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